Epidemics and Public Health in Late Colonial Somaliland

Abstract

The literature on empire and disease is extensive but the issue has been so far ignored in Somali studies. In an earlier paper I discussed the history of disease and empire in Somaliland during the early colonial period (1900–1939). This paper extends the argument for the late colonial period (1939–1960). Various diseases such as smallpox measles relapsing fever tuberculosis influenza and venereal diseases swept through Somaliland in the late colonial period. The social context for the spread of the diseases was first the economic devastation caused by the various droughts in 1943 1947–49 1950 1955 1956 and 1959. Second the migration of the drought victims across the frontiers which often introduced the vector of the diseases into virgin territories. And third the growth of the population of the towns as more and more rural paupers settled in the towns in search of better and more secure life. The paper elaborates how the migration of patterns of paupers and growth of the population of the towns led on the one hand to an increase in the incidence of epidemic (in the rural areas) and endemic (in the towns) diseases. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section deals with epidemic diseases the second with endemic diseases and the final section with public health policies. (authors)