Les Vingt premières années de l'action sanitaire en Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

To further colonization by improving the health of the population, such was French policy in the Ivory Coast between 1904 and 1925. During the first ten years, emphasis was laid on equipment. Though partly impeded by the First World War, this effort succeeded after all in getting the main mechanism of the health service into action by 1925. From the beginning, the struggle against the various diseases turned out to be a hard task, due to the colony's climatic conditions which favoured contagion. The efficiency of the health services varied according to the section of the population in consideration. Europeans and their staff, with complaints of a social character, formed a majority in the wards, whereas other people suffered from epidemies, smallpox in particular, and endémie diseases. Difficult to approach, this fraction of the population did not fully benefit from the " Native Médical Assistance Services ". Only after 1925 their good effects were to be felt.