International organizations and the problem of child health, 1945-1960

Abstract

Faced with planning mass relief campaigns in liberated Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration relied heavily on cheap supplies of skimmed milk from surplus production in northern Europe. The success of this approach swept aside more detailed planning around restoring national maternal and children’s health services. This reliance on mass feeding continued into the post-war years. UNICEF, the agency with the most substantial financial resources, continued this supply-driven approach despite growing reservations by nutritionists in its rival agencies —the UN Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Health Organization.