Venereal diseases: an international health problem in 1900.

Abstract

During the second half of the XIX century a powerful international health movement appeared as the expression of the political and economic importance of the health-disease relationship. From 1850 a long series of international health conferences on epidemics, hygiene, charity, tuberculosis, mother-baby health and rural health brought together doctors, diplomats and governors from many countries to look for political solutions to the social impact of disease. An international health diplomacy arose from this as a channel for debate and solution to the main health problems. According to official statistics, the elevated prevalence of syphilitics at the beginning of the XX century set off the alarm regarding the problems of preventing and treating the disease. Two international conferences on syphilis were convened. This article analyses the contributions and debates among the international experts, the medico-sanitary, moral and social arguments, and the political reactions, national regulations for prostitution as well as international initiatives and recommendations. The main sources used are national regulations, and the lectures, reports and debates that occurred during the two International Conferences on Syphilis, held in Paris and Brussels between 1998 and 1902.