Health > European conference on rural hygiene (June 29th-July 7th, 1931)

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discussion, the experts prepared a report which was unanimously adopted and which you
will find in the memorandum of the Preparatory Committee. It deals with staff, institutions
and methods ; it shows the value of health insurance institutions in connection with free
medical assistance ; it fixes the responsibility of the various organisations in respect of
medical assistance and it quotes examples which fully illustrate the conclusions at which
the experts arrived. This report will be the practical basis on which you will discuss
medical assistance. It may be extended and amplified, but I am sure you will not disagree
with its conclusions, which I trust you will regard as being the documentary basis for your
discussions.
The report on the organisation of health services (second item on the agenda) was
prepared by one of the Committees of the Health Organisation of the League of Nations,
the Committee on Rural Health Centres, under the chairmanship of Professor Chodzko,
member of the Health Committee and Director of the National School of Hygiene at
Warsaw. This Committee held two meetings, one at Budapest and one at Geneva.
Seventeen experts collaborated in the work of the Committee, and I am sure that, after
studying its reports, the Conference will agree that the Committee has done its work
well. For the first time, the guiding principles of modern health services in rural districts
have been clearly laid down. This is an extremely difficult question, as in many countries
the organisation of the health services is based on the general system of health adminis¬
tration and professional assistance, which is rooted in the traditions, customs and mentality
of the nations concerned. Contrary to what might have been expected, instead of finding
themselves divided in their opinions, the experts succeeded in laying down the principles
applicable in all countries, the realisation of which will certainly improve the results
achieved in the sphere of health. I am sure the Conference will agree that this is the most
difficult question with which we have to deal, and I will ask the delegates to weigh most
carefully the views of the experts who have done such arduous work on such a difficult
question.
Finally, a group of experts on sanitation in rural districts met at Geneva under the
chairmanship of M. Vignerot, Chief of Rural Engineering in France, to prepare a report
on the disposal of sewage, water supply, housing and bonifications. This meeting was
attended by thirteen experts from twelve different countries, and you have the results
of their work before you in the report of the Preparatory Committee. They call for certain
comments. Based as they are on recent experience in the most advanced European coun¬
tries in connection with one or more aspects of sanitation in rural districts, they lay down
the principles which might be applied by any Government or administration desirous
of obtaining good results economically. We can scarcely overestimate the value of some
of these principles from the point of view of human welfare in rural districts.
A good supply of drinking-water and good housing, or, in certain circumstances,
the complete system of sanitation of the soil, which is called in Italy bonifica, will, if
rendered general in the rural districts, make it possible to improve the standard of life
and mitigate the ravages of disease.
After examining these various reports, the Preparatory Committee unanimously
decided to adopt them and submit them to the Conference. For this reason, they are
included in the printed document prepared by the Committee for your use. The principles
and conclusions contained in this document represent the work of more than fifty experts
in the various branches of hygiene, and the document is based on the study of some sixty
reports on health and sanitary conditions in various European countries. However,
these documents call for certain explanations and comments, and the Preparatory Com¬
mittee therefore decided to ask the Rapporteurs to explain in rather more detail the
conclusions of the experts.
In submitting these proposals, the Preparatory Committee did not desire to restrict