Harvard School of Public Health - Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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Seated —Thelma Dalmus, Catherine Sears, Claire Butler. Standing —Thomas Weller, Eli Chernin, Steve Pan, Thomas Frothingham, Edward Michelson, Andrew Spielman. .. .Health is the Pillar ... aw ith dreams begins responsibility” is a ▼ ▼ theme of this Yearbook. If we are con¬ vinced that ill health breeds poverty and poverty breeds ill health, then the good health of people is the pillar supporting the edifice of economic and social well being. If we are convinced that the ill health of mankind everywhere potentially makes us less able, then we are obliged to alleviate the situa¬ tion by our participation. Since the majority of that half of the world’s population who inhabit the tropics are thus plagued, people in Tropical Public Health everywhere should acknowledge their commitment. Tropical medicine is not simply the purging of worms but the total process of revitalizing persons and nations by the prevention and control of dis¬ ease and pestilence. I should hope that there will be more opportunities for experience and training in the tropics under well tutored programs pro¬ vided by schools of public health. Myrtle Caton To be effective, we must be practical. The needs of the tropics will not be met by absentee experts. In our ever shrinking world, the people in the tropics are our neighbors. Until they are able to produce the health forces they need, it is our task to offer assistance. Myrtle Caton 26

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... The Image of “Prevention .. nphe major challenge for the worker in public health in the next decade is to crystallize the image of prevention” and by so doing to compel the reasoned acceptance of public health as an in¬ tegral component of programs designed to better the welfare of man. That health often is not recog¬ nized as an essential component in economic and social development must in part be attributed to the failure of the health professions to provide a dynamic and informative leadership. While the curative image is sharply defined, that of preven¬ tion remains a nebulous concept in comparison. A visionary leadership in the health field, possessing multidisciplinary human ecology, will, by logic, and deeds, channel a major proportion of limited health resources into preventive services. The time is particularly propitious for the as¬ sumption of leadership. In the affluent as well as in the developing areas of the world, good health is ever more regarded as an inherent right of each citizen. Natural aspirations in the health field are in receipt of increasing political and financial sup¬ port. Plans and programs—or schemes, in the British terminology—appear in profusion and are funded with more enthusiasm than critical assess¬ ment. Consciously or subconsciously, society, like a Ponce de Leon, seeks the objective so aptly labelled by Rene Dubos as the mirage of health.” The pro¬ fessional worker in the health field appreciates that Thomas H. Weller, A.B., S.M., M.D., LL.D. man, a biological entity, will be ever plagued with the problem of disease as modified by a constantly changing human ecology. The health professional must direct the social forces that are groping for the unrealistic goal of total health, into realistic channels that will permit the maximum improve¬ ment in the general health status of the society of man. Further, he must selectively seek new knowl¬ edge pertinent to the solution of the changing problems of human health. Political support for health can be expected to increase. Your challenge in the next decade, there¬ fore, is to provide the leadership that will crystal¬ lize the image of prevention,” so that public health will become an accepted component of programs designed to better the welfare of man. Thomas H. Weller 25

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Worm burden Franklin Neva 27