Effects of nuclear war on health and health services

This report was prepared by an International Committee of Experts in Medical Sciences and Public Health in response to resolution WHA34.38, by which the World Health Assembly had requested the Director-General to create such a committee to study the contribution that WHO could and should make to facilitate the implementation of the United Nations resolutions on strengthening peace, detente and disarmament and preventing thermonuclear conflict. The Committee established several working groups and allocated to them the task of collecting, reviewing, and summarizing the most recent information on the possible effects of nuclear weapon explosions on health and the health services. The reports of the working groups as well as the literature cited served as a basis for the Committee's report, which presents its collective views. Separate abstracts were prepared for the nine working groups' reports, containing the scientific details