Colonial Public Health

Trading around the world during the 18th and 19th centuries for the explanation and exploitation of natural resources led to the discovery of new territories. Europeans and Americans were engaged in an intense rivalry with each other for colonial possessions. In order to expand their control, these colonial powers made massive shifts of people from one continent to another, using both military and economic forces. 

The colonials established their own administrative, legal, and medical care systems with varying degree of anatomy and authority. To protect the health of their own people and the workers, the colonial rulers established laws similar to those in their home countries. For e.g. Public Health Act, Local Government Act, Vaccination Act, Civil Registration Act, etc. which some are still in place even today in many developing countries in Asia, Africa where British, Spanish, French, Americans or Dutch colonies existed. European countries adopted Bismark's model of national social health insurance scheme which later spread to other countries, especially in Asia and Americas.

Some colonial powers introduced their identity through religious group and education systems. The late eighteenth century saw an increasing momentum in public health education with the establishment of undergraduate and postgraduate courses designed specifically for public health, first in the home countries and later in the colonies.

Later the education system includes research in tropical diseases as well Through the support of the Rockfeller foundation, the London School of Tropical Medicine was transformed into the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1920, expanding the scope of research and teaching on tropical medicine, medical statistics, and epidemiology.

However, the actual development of Public Health and medical care services for the general public remained rudimentary in these former colonial countries and territories. Moving millions of people to unfamiliar areas had led to a high incidence of death and disability from diseases like malaria, typhus, small pox, typhoid, yellow fever, leprosy, yaws, syphilis, etc.

Later, colonials launched a major international public health initiative in the prevention and control of small pox, through vaccination, first among the people working in the colonial administration and later among the workers employed.

Another notable experience was the massive community health development projects for the prevention and control of communicable diseases, mainly initiated through the support of the Rockfeller Foundation in few Asian and Latin American countries. The attempt was aimed at developing pilot disease control projects that could be applied or replicated in other parts of the world.

Next, Go to Age of Socialized Public Health