Organization of health education in Tomsk Province in the 19th – early 20th centuries

The paper aims to analyze and characterize the main methods of health education in the 19th - early 20th centuries in Tomsk province and in the Siberian region. Preventive health care was an important part of Russian health care system in the pre-revolutionary period. However, the issue about Siberian features of health education has not been studied in detail. The conclusions drawn in the paper are based on the analysis of Russian and Siberian archival materials includes statistical materials, and the pre-revolutionary periodicals. The authors characterize the reasons of health education intensification in Russia in the 19th - early 20th centuries, the principles of zemskaya medicine, and features of health education in Tomsk province. They have defined and described the following forms of health education such as distribution of leaflets, publication of articles on medical issues in periodicals, teaching hygiene in educational institutions, and public lectures and charity events, as well as promotion of a healthy lifestyle. It has been revealed that health education was considered as one of the main ways of ill-health prevention and decreasing burden on the healthcare system by physicians in pre-revolutionary period. Physicians systematically carried out health education throughout the entire period. Moreover, by the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, the intensity of health education and initiative of physicians increased. Adding to physicians, the representatives of the clergy, intellectuals and professors of Tomsk University actively participated in the health education in the region. At the same time, health education in Tomsk had its own characteristics, for example, some ways, which were popular among zemsky doctors of other regions, were not used, such as medical exhibitions and popular medical readings. Estimations of the health education’s results given by contemporaries are contradictory. However, it can be stated that health education had an impact on the formation of the medical culture in Tomsk province, including the rural population, helped in solving health problems and improving of lifestyle. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

Keywords

Authors

References