WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTE

Regional Office for the Western Pacific

Bureau Regional Pour Le Pacifique Occidental

REGIONAL COMMITTEE MEETING

Third Session RC/3/WP/TD/9 Saigon 25-30 September 1952

T E C H N I C A L D I S C U S S I 0 N S

The Education and Training of Medical and Public Health Personnel

EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF MEDICAL .AND PUBLIC HEALTH :PERSONNEL IN .JAPAN

ORGANIZATION ·OF THE INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH (1)

The Institute of Public Health was established by the donation of the Rockefeller Foundation; and commenced its work in March 1938 under the management of the Ministry of Welfare for the purpose of training public health personnel. The present organization consists of fourteen departments and one · section for carrying out sixteen courses. These are five regular courses for (1) Medical Health Officers - 12 months, (2) Public Health Nursing Instructors - 12 months, (3) Public Health-­Veterinarians- 6 months, (4).Public Health Pharmaceutics~ 6 months, (5) Nutritionists - 6 months; :.and 11 short refresher courses for (1} Medical Health Officers;·· (2) Sanitarians, (3) Sanitary Ehgineers, a.·nd:('4) Laboratory ~course in Bacteriology and Parasitology, each (or thre~e months; (5) .for• ·public Health Nurse ·s - 4 months, {OJ Public Health Veterinarian.s, (7} Public Health Statisticians, (8) Health Educators and (9) Nutritionists for two months; and Laboratory courses in (10) ·Clinical Microscopy and Pathology and {11} Public Health Chemistry both for two and a half months. The graduates of these courses total 4,141 .up to 1 April 1951.

. Instruction is given by the regular staf·f of the Institute of Public Health, which numbers 79, aided by part-time staff members, visiting lecturers and supervisors of field practice.

Field practice work for students is carried out in approximately 30 healt}f .centres in Tokyo and vicinity and in vat1ous hospitals and institutions where· specialized public health funct·ions are performed. The Institute has a bus to help transport students to field practice areas.

With the aid of donations from the Rockefeller Foundation, the library of the Institute subscribes to 60 foreign public health journals and has been able to purchase several hundred recently published books frotn abroad. Funds from ·the Rockefeller Foundation also have been used to establish a motion picture film library and to build up a health museum for teaching purposes.

(1) (The following information is taken from a document dated August 2nd 1951 and_}prepared for the technical discussions that were held during the Fourth World Health Assembly).

-2- RC/3/WP/rD/9

Dormitory rooms on the fifth floor of the Institute building provide living accommodation for 90 students attending the cdurses for medical health officers and .pubJ,.ic health nurses. A separate dormitory building near Shinagawa has accommodation for 200 students attending other courses. A dining room for staff and students is operated in the basement of the Institute building.

Total Number of Graduates of Regular Courses in the Period Dec. 1938 - March 1944

Medical Health Of;fieers Pharmaceutical Veterinary Public Healt·h Nu:f"si.ng

Course ... 12 months tf. - 12 ,,

" 6 " " - 6 n

98 82

107 76

The Institute met the increasing difficulties in carrying out its activities of t·hese. re·~la.r cours~s due to the war. Finally the regular courses were suspended in 1944, but short courses were con­tinued until 1946. The total number of graduates of the short course in the period 1938-1946 was 1,201. The students of these courses were mostly the directors of health centres, some were veterinarians, pharmaceutical health officers, public health nurses and factory doctors.

~~tional Activities since 1947

Re~or.gantzat1cin of educatJonal activities. after· the, :war followed suggestions made on 13 Dec.ember 1946 by .General Crawford F. Sruns, Chief of the Public Health and we,lfare. Section,, ·.GfiQ, SCAP. 'rpis programme consisted of shqrt ·re:er.e.sher· course's o.f ·a. few months duration for health officers .i..n .'k~y- posts and for auxiliary personnel heeded to staff. the. health ,centre or:gan;i.zation. 'l'he fir~t s.uch. col.irse; for public health nurse.s was'. begun in ilp~i1194T .and: sJx· additional courses were 'initiated wJ,.til:l.in the ne~ . year ,!;or medical heal~h ·officers, sani tarj"ans, sanitary ;engineers., public heftlt·h 'veterin~rians _public health nutritio·nist'~ and public health pha.~a­cist:s. ' In addition, when the: model 'health centre.s Mere ,opened in 1948·, specicil short courses o'f one or two w~eks d~at,ion were g:iven in. each of the 12 key functions performed at thE: health centres and a total of 63:0 attended this course.

Since 1948 refresher courses have been initiat~d for public · health statisticians, health e·ducators and for personnel working in prefect\,1I'al health depa:'tm'Emt· la.b.oratories:.. A regular 12-months course for medical healt·h pffic·ef$ began in April 1949 ,and a 12~months course for publi.c health nursing instruct.ors started in July , 1950 .•

From tim~ to till}e snort courses .are :giiven to Il,leet special needs. For e,xample, inlAprill,950 a two.,w;;ek co1.lrse ·, wa·s he'ld for .clirect.ors of prefectural health departme':ht ·1~\:)oratoriE{S ·to· ·.acquaint. ct,hem With standp.rd metl'lods and procedures recent;ly ado,pted by the .Natiortal · · Institute of Health. In August 19-'+9 andagain in ·July 1950 a Qne week course in methods of contraception was held under the a~spices of the Depqrtm.ent ·of Public cHealtl:;l Demography . to tra~n docto:Lts. .for Marriage ·cons:ultat:ion ·Offices authQri~ed to · be, established · in heal;tih centre~ :by tne . EU:genic Protection ··l,.aM~ · Facilities of' . the In$tit;1.1te ·are continually be,ing improved ·and adapted t ·o meet the var,ious needs· .for training . public ·heal~h:pers.onnel.