Korean Journal of Medical History最新文献

{"title":"A Critical Reconsideration of the Adoption of \"German Medicine\" in Early Meiji Japan: Sagara Chian's Conception of Medical Authority and His Project for the Professionalization of Physicians.","authors":"Kyu Won Lee","doi":"10.13081/kjmh.2026.35.217","DOIUrl":"10.13081/kjmh.2026.35.217","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article critically reconsiders existing explanations for the adoption of \"German medicine\" in early Meiji Japan and reconstructs the institutional and political context of that decision by focusing on Sagara Chian's conception of medical authority (iken) and his project of medical professionalization. Previous studies have explained the shift largely in terms of the academic superiority of German medicine, the German provenance of Dutch-learning medical texts, the advice of foreign advisers such as Verbeck and Bauduin, political or ideological affinity between Japan and Prussia, or factional conflict surrounding William Willis. Yet these explanations do not sufficiently clarify why the final outcome took the form of a German-style institutional model combining university-based medical education, state examinations and licensure, a hierarchical professorial order, and state regulation of medical practice. This article first shows that, in the aftermath of the Boshin War, the British model represented by William Willis enjoyed strong political legitimacy within the new Meiji government. It then traces the appointments of Sagara Chian and Iwasa Jun, the proposal and collapse of the dual-employment proposal, and the subsequent politics of separation and compromise, arguing that the crucial issue was not a simple confrontation between pro-British and pro-German camps but a contest over who would control medical education, institutional design, and the authority to certify physicians. It further demonstrates that Sagara understood \"Germany\" not as a repository of superior medical techniques but as an institutional model linking the university, state licensure, hierarchical academic authority, military medicine, and hygienic administration. In this light, the adoption of \"German medicine\" in early Meiji Japan is best understood less as passive reception of a purportedly superior foreign medicine than as an institutional choice through which the modern Japanese state sought to reorganize physicians into a state-managed and state-certified profession. This reinterpretation sheds light not only on the formation of the Meiji state and its professional order but also on the broader genealogy of modern medical education in East Asia, including colonial Korea.</p>","PeriodicalId":42441,"journal":{"name":"Korean Journal of Medical History","volume":"35 1","pages":"217-251"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13216670/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148036279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Health between Revolution and Military Coup : The Public Health Evaluation & Planning Program and the Making of 'Self-sufficient' Korean Public Health, 1960-1962.","authors":"Jaegoo Kang","doi":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.605","DOIUrl":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.605","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article analyzes the formation of the development-oriented path of the South Korean healthcare system in the 1960s as a complex outcome of shifts in domestic politics and foreign aid. To this end, it focuses on the Public Health Evaluation & Planning Program (1960-1962), a program that coincided with the intersection of political upheavals-the April Revolution and the May 16 military coup-and a transition in U.S. aid policy to Korea. The April Revolution led to the collapse of the Syngman Rhee regime, which had prioritized defense and development, allowing a welfare state discourse to emerge. Popular aspirations unleashed by the revolution created cracks in the ideological landscape of the 1950s, which had been dominated by the defense-and-development-first policy. From a perspective advocating the harmonization of welfare and the economy, Korean health experts and the USOM Health and Sanitation Division strongly argued for an expanded governmental role in healthcare after the revolution. This effort materialized as the Public Health Evaluation & Planning Program, a common preliminary step for long-term health planning in the international health field at the time. The military junta, which seized power through the coup a year after the revolution, sealed the cracks created by the revolution. They adopted an explicit development-first policy and focused on economic development, grounded in the logic of subsuming welfare within the framework of economic growth. Concurrently, aiming to reduce the economic burden of aid, the U.S. government rapidly curtailed public health assistance-the material foundation of Korea's healthcare system. Furthermore, amidst the reorganization of aid agencies, the USOM Health and Sanitation Division-which had emphasized the parallel pursuit of welfare and development-was dismantled. USOM began to promote the establishment of a development-oriented healthcare system in Korea. The Korean healthcare system rapidly achieved 'self-sufficiency' from the U.S. but without the intended expansion of the government's role. This dual shock of the early 1960s-the military coup and the shift in U.S. aid policy-functioned as a critical juncture, locking the Korean healthcare system into the development-oriented path.</p>","PeriodicalId":42441,"journal":{"name":"Korean Journal of Medical History","volume":"34 3","pages":"605-644"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12877077/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146126885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Spock Paradox: Baby Doctor, Benjamin Spock's Advice for a New Parenting.","authors":"Namhee Lee","doi":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.751","DOIUrl":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.751","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This paper focuses on a central paradox in the childrearing advice of American pediatrician and beloved \"baby doctor\" Benjamin Spock: his seemingly permissive approach to control, fostered through a new psychology, in fact represented a new mode of control. The study explores this paradox by closely examining how Spock developed his ideas on parental self-control. By shifting the foundation of self-control, his advice supported the emergence of a new form of authority-strengthened by more internalized and elaborate guidelines. Challenging the widespread belief that Spock's methods were simply looser or more lenient, this study traces the transformation of his childrearing ideas from authoritative and visible forms of control to subtle and internal ones in the mid-twentieth-century United States. Spock's influential The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care revolutionized twentieth-century parenting by emphasizing parents' confidence in their own judgment and the critical role of emotional maturity in childrearing. Rather than advocating rigid rules or permissiveness, Spock focused on how parents could cultivate self-control and emotional regulation to promote healthier parent-child relationships. A core tenet of his philosophy was distinguishing between controllable and uncontrollable aspects of parenting, which helped alleviate feelings of helplessness and inadequacy among parents. By fostering mothers' self-awareness and encouraging recognition of their individual limits, Spock provided a framework that enhanced emotional comfort and a sense of control during childcare-benefiting both parents and their children alike. Spock's psychoanalytic interests deeply influenced his focus on parental emotional control, particularly the mother's crucial role in fostering a child's emotional growth and self-confidence. He maintained that a mother's unconditional love and consistent presence were indispensable, warning parents against showing dissatisfaction with their child's flaws, as such expressions could undermine the child's self-esteem. Parents were encouraged to regulate negative emotions-such as disappointment and frustration-especially in challenging contexts like feeding difficulties or toilet training, where parental negativity might provoke defiance or resistance. For Spock, emotional maturity, characterized by patience and measured reactions, was essential for effective discipline and for mitigating undesirable behaviors in children. Spock's broader influence challenged prevailing mid-twentieth-century norms that often prioritized strict discipline and emotional restraint. He promoted a flexible, affectionate approach that recognized children as individuals with unique needs and personalities. This philosophy invited parents to trust their instincts while balancing emotional regulation, enabling them to respond sensitively and effectively to their children. Spock's work fostered a cultural shift toward more humane and psychologically i","PeriodicalId":42441,"journal":{"name":"Korean Journal of Medical History","volume":"34 3","pages":"751-779"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12877078/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146126892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rediscovering Jain Medicine: An Aspect of Ancient Indian Medicine through the Embryology of the Taṇḍulaveyāliya.","authors":"Youngsun Yang","doi":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.645","DOIUrl":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.645","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This study reexamines the position and significance of the Jain medical tradition, long marginalized in the history of Indian medicine, by analyzing the embryological discourse in the Jain text Taṇḍulaveyāliya. Existing narratives of Indian medical history have predominantly centered on Ayurveda, with Kenneth G. Zysk asserting that Jainism \"failed to systematize medicine within its monastic tradition.\" However, Mari J. Stuart demonstrated the institutionalization of Jain monastic medicine through her study of 6th-7th century Śvetāmbara commentaries. Building upon this foundation, the present study advances this scholarship by analyzing the specific content and characteristics of Jain medical knowledge, thereby contributing to a more nuanced understanding of the landscape of ancient Indian medical history. The Taṇḍulaveyāliya, a 7th-century text belonging to the prakīrṇaka (miscellaneous) section of the Jain canon, contains substantial material on embryology and anatomy. Drawing on Walther Schubring's critical edition (1969) and Colette Caillat's pioneering research (1974), this study examines the embryology section (Section A: verses 3-16, prose pp. 4,2-7,16), focusing on the anatomical structure of the female uterus, the three constitutive elements of conception (soul, oyā, and semen), monthly stages of fetal development, the dual vascular system and umbilical nutrition, and theories of sex determination. The analysis reveals that the Taṇḍulaveyāliya inherited the tradition of the early Jain canonical text Bhagavātisūtra(=Viyāhapannatti) while selectively incorporating and reworking theories from classical Ayurvedic texts (Carakasaṃhitā and Suśrutasaṃhitā). Particularly noteworthy is the systematization of fetal development by month and the addition of the umbilical cord (nābhi-rasa-haraṇī) as a nutritional mechanism, which demonstrates a strategic synthesis of the dual vascular theory from Jain scripture with the umbilical theory from Ayurveda. This reflects an intention to integrate more precise medical knowledge while respecting the authority of indigenous tradition. Furthermore, this text reinterprets the same medical knowledge within Jainism's distinctive philosophical and ethical framework. While Ayurveda aims at health and healing, the Taṇḍulaveyāliya reconstructs the processes of fetal development and birth from the perspectives of suffering (duḥkha) and impurity (aśuci), utilizing them as instruments of religious awakening that encourage abandoning attachment to the body and pursuing liberation. Together with Jain medical ethics that excludes animal-derived medicines in accordance with the principle of non-violence (ahiṃsā) and employs only plant and mineral substances, this constitutes the unique religio-medical character of Jain medicine. This study directly refutes Zysk's thesis of Jain medical \"non-systematization,\" demonstrating that Jainism not only possessed medical knowledge but systematically compiled and reinterpreted it","PeriodicalId":42441,"journal":{"name":"Korean Journal of Medical History","volume":"34 3","pages":"645-674"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12877076/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146126918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Untamed Disease: New Perceptions and Medical Responses to Zhang in the Lingnan Region during the Song Dynasty.","authors":"Hanshin Kim","doi":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.675","DOIUrl":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.675","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examines how physicians and scholar-officials of the Song dynasty reconceptualized and medically confronted zhang -an uncontrolled and deadly tropical disease endemic to the Lingnan region of southern China. Since ancient times, the expansion of the Chinese cultural sphere toward the south had been shadowed by fears of the region's hot, humid climate and the \"poisonous vapors\" (duqi) believed to cause fatal illnesses. These environmental anxieties contributed to the cultural Othering of Lingnan as an uncivilized and perilous frontier, inhabited by \"barbarian\" peoples and veiled in superstition. While Sui and Tang physicians such as Chao Yuanfang and Sun Simiao distinguished zhang from cold damage (shanghan) and epidemic fevers (wenyi), their understanding remained theoretical and classificatory, relying on bianbing (disease categorization) rather than individualized bianzheng (pattern differentiation). In contrast, Song-period physicians-particularly the so-called ruyi (Confucian physicians)-advanced an empirical and practice-oriented medicine. Through direct observation and clinical experience, they transformed zhang from an untamed and supernatural affliction into a diagnosable and treatable syndrome grounded in empirical reasoning. This transformation unfolded within the broader socio-political context of the Song dynasty, when the empire's political and economic center shifted southward and the development of Lingnan became a national concern. The state's medical bureaus undertook extensive compilation projects, producing formularies such as the Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang and Shengji Zonglu Zuanyao, which aimed to standardize treatments throughout the empire. Yet these texts, rooted in northern medical paradigms, often failed to address the specific climatic and pathological conditions of the Lingnan tropics. In response, scholar-officials and local physicians-including Li Qiu, Zhang Zhiyuan, Wang Fei, Wang Nanyong, and Zhang Jie-compiled medical works such as the Lingnan Weisheng Fang. Drawing upon firsthand clinical encounters, they emphasized the importance of pulse examination, symptom differentiation, and ecological adaptation in treatment. Their efforts reflected a synthesis of classical medical theory and local medical knowledge, bridging state medicine and regional realities. Ultimately, this study argues that the transformation of zhang from a numinous affliction into a treatable disease signifies a critical epistemological shift in Chinese medical history. By confronting fear through observation, classification, and practice, Song physicians extended the boundaries of both medical rationality and civilization itself. The conquest of the \"untamed disease\" thus metaphorically represents the taming of the southern frontier and the integration of its environment into the moral and intellectual order of the empire.</p>","PeriodicalId":42441,"journal":{"name":"Korean Journal of Medical History","volume":"34 3","pages":"675-711"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12877086/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146126952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Twilight Sleep and Sunrise Slumber: \"Painless Childbirth\" in Early Twentieth-Century America.","authors":"Ji-Hye Shin","doi":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.713","DOIUrl":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.713","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This essay examines the emergence of obstetric anesthesia through two competing methods for \"painless childbirth\" in early twentieth-century America: Twilight Sleep and Sunrise Slumber. It explores the ways in which childbirth practices were established in America at the turn of the twentieth century and aims to reveal how contemporary American society accepted these two methods, what distinguished them from one another, and how medical knowledge and techniques competed for dominance. Sunrise Slumber, which involved the inhalation of nitrous oxide, was ultimately adopted in many regions, including Britain, Canada, and Australia. In the United States, however, it could not surpass Twilight Sleep, a method that rendered expectant mothers unconscious through the injection of morphine and scopolamine and had garnered strong support from American women. This essay demonstrates that the adoption of medical technology was shaped more by the political and social circumstances of the time than by its purported objective utility. Furthermore, it contributes to existing scholarship by tracing the history of various anesthetic methods developed to reduce or eliminate labor pain during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.</p>","PeriodicalId":42441,"journal":{"name":"Korean Journal of Medical History","volume":"34 3","pages":"713-750"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12877104/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146126907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Acceptance of Yuan China Medicine and the Response of the Koryŏ Medical Community: Utilization of Local Herbs and Simple Prescriptions.","authors":"Chaekun Oh","doi":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.001","DOIUrl":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.001","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this study, I examine how Chinese medicine, particularly from the Song and Yuan dynasties, was received during the late Koryŏ dynasty, along with the responses of the Korean peninsula's medical community. Previous discussions of Koryŏ medicine have primarily focused on hyangyak, local herbs that were readily available. To move beyond these limitations, this study explores how the medical systems of the Song and Yuan were conceptualized as central, representing universal medicine, while Koryŏ's and its medical practices were positioned as peripheral, characterized as local medicine. The broader field of medicine is examined across four categories: medical principles, diagnostic methods or pathological explanations, formulas, and herbs. Situated on the eastern periphery of the Chinese continent, Koryŏ regarded Song medicine as advanced and central. In response, Koryŏ actively sought to study Song medical knowledge by importing comprehensive, government-compiled medical texts and petitioning for the establishment of medical education. Following the fall of Song, the Mongol (Yuan) dynasty emerged as the new ruling power and invaded Koryŏ nine times over a 30-year period. In 1259, the Koryŏ king succumbed to the Mongols (Yuan), and Koryŏ remained under the political influence of the Yuan Empire until 1356. As a result, Yuan medicine was adopted in Koryŏ, both semi-compulsorily and organically. Evidence of Yuan influence can be found in surviving Koryŏ texts, which reflect the impact of the Comprehensive Record of Sagely Benefaction, a key text emphasized in the Yuan dynasty's medical civil service examinations, as well as the new formulas introduced by the renowned physician Li Gao, Luo Tianyi. Moreover, among the writings left by Yi Saek, a Koryŏ writer, are anatomical records derived from Yuan texts and correspondence with Yang Jongjin, who is believed to be a Chinese medical practitioner. These records indicate that Koryŏ intellectuals made contact with Yuan medicine through various channels. However, effective clinical implementation of such newly acquired medical knowledge required access to specific medicinal herbs. While Koryŏ was under the Yuan rule, the close political relationship provided relatively easy access to valuable medicinal herbs, but this access was limited. As Koryŏ increasingly adopted Yuan medical practices, challenges surrounding the supply and demand of herbs became increasingly significant, prompting local medical practitioners to seek practical solutions. To Koryŏ medical scholars and practitioners residing in the periphery, the medicine of Song and Yuan represented universal medicine. While they were able to acquire the knowledge of medical principles, diagnostic methods or pathological explanations, formulas, and herbs from this universal medicine, the political and geographical distance between the center and the periphery restricted the availability of medicinal herbs in Koryŏ. The most viable response was to e","PeriodicalId":42441,"journal":{"name":"Korean Journal of Medical History","volume":"34 1","pages":"1-36"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12127741/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144180388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"\"No Patient\" : Early HIV/AIDS epidemic in Korea and Government Response.","authors":"Junho Jung","doi":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.209","DOIUrl":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.209","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>HIV/AIDS control in Korea characterized with \"AIDS Prevention Law\", enacted in 1987. It was one of the first separate legal enforcement around the world that governs control of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Yet with significant limitations regarding human rights, as it criminalized HIV infection, and dictates penal action against 'transmitters'. This papers looks into how HIV/AIDS epidemic started in Korea in 1980s, with specific focus on disease narrative that was constructed by the government. It was known to United States Forces Korea, that HIV was already spreading steady into Korean female sex workers around U.S. military bases in 1985. This information was concealed by Korean Ministry of health, in the face of upcoming international events such as 1988 Seoul Olympics. Instead, the Korean government turned public attention to 'imported' cases, constructing narrative that HIV/AIDS as a foreign disease. With direction of president, HIV/AIDS control focus on compulsory testing and isolation of identified risk group of sexual minorities and sex workers around U.S. military bases. This narrative of foreign disease had lasting impact even after democratization of Korea in 1987, as civil society, unaware that HIV/AIDS had already became endemic in Korea, argued to enforced compulsory testing against foreign nationals upon entry. This paper argues that disease narratives were carefully constructed by the government during early phase of HIV/AIDS epidemic in Korea, and used legal structure as ways to conceal the actual prevalence from both domestic and international attention.</p>","PeriodicalId":42441,"journal":{"name":"Korean Journal of Medical History","volume":"34 1","pages":"209-247"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12127738/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144182987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Between a B.A. Generalist and an Expert: Challenges and Improvements in the Training Curriculum and Implementation of Peace Corps Health Auxiliary Program in Korea (1967-1970).","authors":"Narae Seo","doi":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.121","DOIUrl":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.121","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper examines the challenges and improvements associated with the training curriculum and implementation of the Peace Corps Health Auxiliary Program in South Korea from 1967 to 1970. Established as part of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War, the Peace Corps sought to promote modernization emphasizing economic productivity in developing countries through volunteer efforts. From 1967 to 1981, the Peace Corps dispatched approximately 500 health volunteers to South Korea across 18cohorts. These volunteers worked in local health centers on tuberculosis control, mother and child health, and other public health initiatives. Despite the program's significance, the operational aspects of the health initiative and the activities undertaken by the volunteers remain under-explored in academic literature. The early phases of the program, particularly the K-4 and K-6 cohorts, faced the challenge of transforming non-specialist B.A. generalists into competent health workers in the Korean medical field. These efforts encountered significant obstacles, including limited understanding of local health conditions, a lack of volunteers' expertise, and inadequate operational guidelines. These shortcomings contributed to high early termination rates among volunteers. The enactment of the Tuberculosis Control Act in 1968 marked a turning point for the program, leading to improved coordination between donor and recipient parties and broadening the focus of the health program to include additional public health initiatives after the K-13 group. This study highlights the importance of a well-structured pre-service training curriculum and collaborative engagement with relevant authorities for successful program outcomes. It illustrates that, while initial public health efforts faced setbacks, they laid the foundation for subsequent improvements in health services in Korea. This study underscores the need for continued exploration of the Peace Corps' comprehensive health initiatives and their long-term impacts.</p>","PeriodicalId":42441,"journal":{"name":"Korean Journal of Medical History","volume":"34 1","pages":"121-170"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12127744/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144180573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Historical Analysis of Maternal and Child Health Programs in 1980s South Korea: Insights from Maternal and Child Health Centers.","authors":"Dahye Jeong","doi":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.171","DOIUrl":"10.13081/kjmh.2025.34.171","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article examines the historical trajectory of South Korea's maternal and child health (MCH) programs from the late 1970s to the 1980s, focusing on the establishment and operation of MCH centers funded by the World Bank population loan. It investigates how these centers reflected the evolving relationship between population control policies and public health services within South Korea's developing healthcare system. The MCH centers, established nationwide but primarily located in rural areas, were intended to improve maternal and infant health indicators while ultimately contributing to fertility reduction. Despite the ambitious vision of integrating family planning with comprehensive maternal and child healthcare, the centers faced significant challenges, including funding shortages, difficulties in recruiting midwives, and competition from the rapidly expanding private medical sector, which offered modern diagnostic technologies and access to specialist physicians. In response, the government attempted to redirect remaining funds toward establishing comprehensive MCH centers within private hospitals; however, this shift did not substantially increase the utilization of local MCH centers. This study demonstrates that, despite the rhetoric emphasizing maternal and child health, MCH programs remained subordinate to fertility control objectives within South Korea's population policy framework. The history of these centers highlight the tension between demographic goals and public health service needs, as well as the complex interplay between international development organizations, national policy priorities, and local healthcare practices during a period of rapid social transformation in South Korea.</p>","PeriodicalId":42441,"journal":{"name":"Korean Journal of Medical History","volume":"34 1","pages":"171-208"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12127740/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144182688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}