The Appeal Abroad of American Medicine and Public Health

Abstract

Programs initiated or supported by the United States in relief of health problems abroad have increased stead ily from small beginnings at the midpoint of the nineteenth century. Federal departments carrying on international health programs in 1965 included State, Defense, Agriculture, Interior, Commerce, Labor, and Health, Education, and Welfare. Other government agencies with such programs are the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Science Foundation, the Veterans Administration, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Export- Import Bank. The United States is prominent in the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), and contributes financially to nine ma jor regional organizations concerned with international health and sanitation. An expanding role for the United States in the area of international health was delineated in the President's message to Congress on February 2, 1966. The message called for attainment of five international objectives: (1) creation of an international career service in health; (2) help with health- manpower needs of developing nations; (3) augmented nutri tional programs; (4) widespread eradication of malaria, small- pox, and measles and control of many other diseases; and (5) co-operation in world-wide efforts to deal with population prob lems. Implementation of many of the projects would assign to the United States Public Health Service (PHS) a larger posi tion of leadership in our international health efforts.