The health care system of colonial Kenya

Abstract

The object of research of the presented article is the health care system of colonial Kenya (1890-1950-ies). The subject of study is the state of health of the bulk of the native population, the principles of the colony's medical service, the management of hospitals and first aid stations, sanitary and preventive measures. The author reviewed the spread of various kinds of infections and tropical diseases, as well as ways to combat them. Special attention is paid to the contribution of South Asians to the development of rural and private medicine. The methodological basis of the work is the concrete historical and problem-chronological approaches combined with synthesis and comparative analysis. The British authorities have made significant progress in this area, although in conditions of limited resources, priority was given to caring for European settlers. By the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, plague, smallpox, cholera, onchocerciasis, yellow fever and recurrent typhus were almost completely eradicated, malaria and sleeping sickness were localized. Vaccination has become the norm for the indigenous population, the risks of neonatal tetanus and polio have been reduced. The process of training indigenous personnel has been established in specialized training centers. The accumulated basis was subsequently used by the leadership of independent Kenya for the further development of this sphere.