LEAGUE OF NATIONS.
C.H.1265.
2
53
Geneva, October 13th, 1937.
HEALTH ORGANISATION.
SKETCH OF THE HEALTH ORGANISATION OF CHINA.
Central Organisation.
Public health machinery was practically non-existent prior to the establishment of the National Government at Nanking in 1928, although nominally there existed a sanitary Bureau under the Ministry of the Interior of the defunct Peking Government, and earlier attempts to initiate health work were being made in certain fields and localities. The North Manchuria Plague Prevention Bureau in Harbin, the National Epidemic Prevention Bureau in Peiping, the Municipal Health Departments of Canton and Shanghai and the Health Demonstration Station in Peiping are instances of this work.
A definite step forward was made when a Ministry of Hygiene was created in October 1928 for the purpose of establishing the basis of a sanitary and medical organisa- tion for the whole of the country. For financial reasons, the Ministry of Hygiene was, in April 1931, incorporated with the Ministry of the Interior, but its individual existence persisted under the name of "National Health Administration", or "Wei-Sheng-Shu".
Besides its offices dealing with health legislation and administration, the Central Field Health Station was established early in 1931 as the nucleus of the technical services of the Health Administration. This Station, the programme of which was drawn up by a conference of Directors of Schools of Hygiene, convened by the Health Organisation of the League of Nations, ** was entrusted with all questions dealing with research, practical field experiments, applied health demonstrations and the training of technical staff.
This sketch is based, to a large extent, on a paper by L. M. Chen, "Public Health in National Reconstruction", Information Bulletin, Council of International Affairs, Nanking. Vol.3, pages 51-82, 1937.
An abridged list of references will be found at the end of the present note.
** Cf. Co-operation in health matters between the National
Government of the Republic of China and the League of Nations. Bulletin of the Health Organisation, Vol.V, pages 1082-1089, 1936.