CHAPTER II 
ACTIONS TO MEET NATIONAL HEALTH NEEDS 
A. Introduction 
No single organization is charged with the functions necessary to meet 
national health needs; rather, many interdependent organizations, 
ranging from governmental agencies through the commercial sector to 
nonprofit and academic institutions, have assumed different responsi¬ 
bilities. For the discussions that follow, "sponsoring" organizations 
are considered to be those organizations assuming oversight and/or 
directional responsibilities (by supplying funds) for the conduct of 
activities. It is this group that must assess the requirements and 
ensure a supply of nonhuman primates to meet those health needs within 
its area of purview. The term "sponsors" is used to identify this set 
of organizations. The term "performers" is used to identify those 
organizations actually conducting an activity using primates, regardless 
of the sponsorship. Some institutions may be both sponsors and 
performers. This is especially true of academic institutions which, 
together with various professional societies and trade associations, also 
have considerable potential for engendering widespread acceptance of 
this plan and for its effective implementation within the scientific 
community. 
The various sponsors, recognizing their responsibility in this matter, 
are already actively involved in varying degrees. The goal of this 
plan is to structure and balance these actions in a coordinated manner 
so that a comprehensive program can be developed to efficiently meet 
all needs. A program developed at the national level can: 
* address the critical needs of all health activities for 
primates; 
* develop balanced supply programs Independent of a single 
unreliable source of primate supplies; 
* employ the talents of private enterprise in developing and 
maintaining sources of primate supplies; 
* coordinate the actions of sponsors and establish cooperative 
programs to minimize duplicate effort; 
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