UNITED NATIONS' WAR ON DISEASE

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 28, 23 July 1952, Page 2

UNITED NATIONS' WAR ON DISEASE

i 'Since the Communists invaded the | Korean Republic in June 1950, the | United Nations also established 343 i basic medical units. Such medI ical unit . One such medical unit has enough drugs and other medical and surgical supplies to care for 100,000 persons 'a month. The United Nations also operates 32 hospitals in Korea. Each hospital has 40 beds. Disease has been controlled by immunis ation and by spraying in-sect-breeding places with DDT— two methods of modern preventive nied'cine. The United States has contributed large amounts of DDT, a powerful insecticide, to protect the health of the Kcrean victins pggressiori. According to latest reports, 67 percent of the Korean civilians have been immunized against typhus. At the same time, 87 percent have been immunized against typhoid and 70 percent against smallpox. This preventive medicine programme is still going forward. In addition, about 75 percent of the civilian population has been dusted with DDT to protect them against disease-carrying lice. The preventive medical programme also covers the great number of North Korean refugees who streamed into Republican territory during the hostilities. The number of refugees from Communist territory now stands at more than 3,600,00*0 rnen, women and children. U.N. medical teams have inoculated these refugees. About one-half of the refugees are being fed by the United Nations to provide them with adequate nutrition. The others are cared for by Koreans in the Republican territory. Drugs and other medical supplies have been donated by various member nations of the U.N., including New Zealand.