Activities of the Health Authorities of the Kursk Region to Ensure Sanitary and Epidemiological Safety of the Population (1945-1965)

Relevance. Protecting the health of citizens is one of the most important tasks of the state. The role of competent structures in solving this issue is increasing in the conditions of the spread of infectious diseases. The recent fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has proved the need to unite the efforts of authorities, scientific and medical institutions, and civil society institutions to effectively confront global challenges that threaten the health of millions of people. The effectiveness of the measures taken depends on taking into account the experience accumulated by mankind. Regional practices of anti-epidemic activities deserve attention both in practical and research terms. This problem was not specifically considered in retrospect.

Purpose. To reveal the main problems of ensuring sanitary and epidemiological safety of the population of the Kursk region in the first post-war decades and the role of regional health authorities in this process.

Objectives: to characterize the state of the sanitary and epidemiological service of the region on the basis of documentary sources, to reflect their role in preventing the spread and combating infectious diseases.

Methodology. When writing the work, the authors relied on the fundamental methods of historical science (the principles of historicism and objectivity), as well as a number of specific historical and general scientific methods (analytical, comparative-historical, historical-genetic, etc.).

Results. The presented materials show that medical institutions, as well as State and political bodies, took the overcoming of epidemiological and infectious diseases very seriously and responsibly. In the most difficult post-war conditions, it was possible not only to prevent the spread of mass epidemics, but to take the situation under control, and in the future to minimize many epidemiological diseases.

Conclusion. Thanks to the measures taken in the first half of the 1960s, the incidence of typhus and a number of other diseases practically disappeared. But it has not yet been possible to completely defeat many epidemiological diseases during the study period. The problem of combating acute intestinal infections remained very urgent, mainly due to the rather low sanitary culture of the population.

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