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War Surgery and Medicine

New Zealand Malaria Control Unit: Organisation

New Zealand Malaria Control Unit: Organisation

The NZMCU consisted of a headquarters and three brigade sections with a total strength of thirty-six officers and men. The headquarters consisted of two officers (the commanding officer and one entomologist) and ten men, one of whom was trained in the laboratory diagnosis of malaria. Each brigade section consisted of one officer and seven men.

The commanding officer was a medical officer with the rank of major. The senior entomologist was attached to headquarters, and two of the three section commanders were entomologists and the other an engineer. The Division was fortunate in obtaining the services of two exceptionally well-qualified entomologists from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and the engineer was experienced in drainage schemes and airfield construction work. The junior entomologist was a science graduate in biology.

The Malaria Control Unit had excellent preliminary training in the malarious area prior to New Zealand troops going into it. page 534 At the end of January 1943 a party of two officers and seven others moved to Efate Island in the New Hebrides and there operated as a malaria control unit at Havannah Harbour, under the United States organisation, until the middle of June. In the meantime the remainder of the unit in New Caledonia carried on with training. A second party replaced the first at Havannah Harbour about mid-June and remained until the end of July. The two officers of the first party proceeded to Russell and Tulagi, where they remained until the end of July, when they rejoined the Division in New Caledonia. The experience so gained was of the utmost value when the MCU subsequently took over responsibility for malaria control in New Zealand areas.