alata MB OR 6 ae EM, rl 0 akS reece SE aa ee ae HEALTH SURYEYIN PACIFIC Traveling from island to island the survey group examined every native present and investigated and evaluated the food, water, sewage, and garbage facilities, as well as the general living conditions and native habits and customs that had a bearing on the subject of health and sanitation, Among other things the survey included a physical examination, photofluorographic examination of the chest, Kalintest, tuberculin skin test, and stool examination. This report concerns those islands surveyed by the U.S.S. WAidbey during the period from August 1948 through June 1950. Three of the trust territory civil administrative districts, those of Palau, Saipan, and the Marshall Islands, are represented. Al] of the western Caroline Islands, the northern Mariana Islands (except Alamagan and Agrihan Islands). and the eastern islands of the Marshall Islands group are included. Subsequent to June 1950 the U.S.S. Whidbey ulso surveyed the Truk and Ponape districts. However, data for these districts correspond- ing to those for the three districts mentioned before are relatively incomplete. As a consequence, it is impossible to present a comprehensive description of the health status of the population in the trust territory as a whole. The fragmentary data available for Truk and Ponape, while not included inthis article, are contained in a detailed study in the Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Department of the Navy. POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS The total native population of the trust territory was placed at approximately 54,300 in 1950. About 28,600 of theze were in the three districts of Palau, Saipan, and the Marshall Islands. The population figures presented in the accompanying tables, totaling 22,146 for these three districts, are based upon the number of iclentification cardsdistributed during the survey. One card was distributed to each inhabitant present ontheisland at the time of the visit of the U.S.S. Whidbey. Although it was intended that every inhabitant be included, the length of time involved in making a surveyof this nature, coupled with the fact that there was a great deal of interisland visiting, resulted in some individuals being examined st places away from their home island and others not receiving any examination at all. The area of the island, the scattering of the population, the terrain, and the amount of control exercised over their people by the local chiefs or administrative heads were all factors affecting the extent to which the population was brought into the survey. Density. Population density varied from islandto island. Out of 39 islands or atolls, 5 had a population of Jess than 100, 24 had a OCTOBER 1959 5013253 1201