1940 Hubei epidemic situation: Seven epidemics were prevalent at the same time, and the drought and locust plague came again the following year. What caused it?

1940 may 16 4 pm, Xiangyang, Hubei. Private Fujioka raised his bayonet and stabbed an officer covered in blood. Afterwards, he learned that the officer's name was Zhang Zizhong, and he was the commander of the 33rd Army of China. In the face of the Japanese army, Zhang Zizhong killed ten times, ran out of ammunition, and finally died in battle. Even Japanese soldiers deeply admire him.

For the Chinese nation and the people of Hubei behind him, he fought to the last moment.

The battle of Zaoyi ended in less than a month, and the Japanese troops stationed in Wuhan 1 1 finally traveled all over the rest of Hubei.

At this time, the people of Hubei were in a panic and wanted to cry without tears.

Because the enemy in front of them is not just the Japanese army.

The picture comes from the paper "Study on the Changes of Epidemiology and Public Health Awareness in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui during the Republic of China"

From 65438 to 0940, cholera began to spread in a large area in Hubei, and cholera epidemic broke out in Jiangling, Gongan and Songzi counties of Hubei Province. At this time, at least seven kinds of epidemics spread at the same time, raging in about 45% of Hubei Province. The overall epidemic situation did not end until 1942. 1940~ 1942 is not so much the beginning and end of an infectious disease as the node of many epidemics.

In fact, since the founding of the Republic of China, the epidemic in Hubei Province has never stopped. Cholera, smallpox and dysentery spread in the territory of the Republic of China almost every year, and other diseases such as malaria, meningitis, plague, typhoid fever, diphtheria, relapsing fever, scarlet fever, kala-azar and macula also emerge one after another. These diseases, which we now think are far away, were quite common in China a hundred years ago.

Looking through 1940 to 1943, we can see the following records:

Half of the public security county government employees are sick and medicines are extremely scarce.

Relapsing fever is prevalent in northwest Hubei, with half of the residents in Xingshan County infected and 50,000 people killed. Relapsing fever, typhus and typhoid fever spread to Baokang County, and 20% of the population died of epidemic diseases.

5000 people in Tongcheng county died of epidemic disease; Smallpox epidemic occurred in Jianli county for two consecutive years, with 40,000 deaths.

Smallpox, cholera, headache and consumption are rampant in Mianyang County. Nine times out of ten? .

Due to the chaotic situation at that time, it was difficult for us to make accurate statistics on the specific situation of these epidemics. Most of the historical materials we can see are only? Epidemic? 、? Many people died? Such a vague record.

However, we can be sure that the high-frequency and large-scale epidemic situation has brought personal pain to the local people, and the already fragile health and epidemic prevention system has also suffered tremendous pressure, and what is even more deadly is the war and drought situation faced by Hubei at that time.

1 May 9401day, Wuhan 1 1 The Japanese army launched the Zaoyi Campaign. The Japanese army defeated the national army at the cost of more than 7,000 casualties, resulting in nearly 65,438+10,000 casualties and disappearances. National hero Zhang Zizhong martyr. Japanese troops are all over Hubei. That year, 36 counties were occupied, plundered and attacked by the Japanese army, and married people with children fled to the occupied land. According to the statistics of1May 25th, 940, the total number of refugees in Hubei Province reached120 ~1300,000.

194 1 year, drought in Hubei. Hubei Statistical Yearbook records this time? After a long drought in summer, the seedlings withered and suffered from locust plague again, and the harvest was only 20%. ? The alternation of drought and locust plague, coupled with the epidemic disease, undoubtedly gave Hubei people great pressure for survival and production at that time.

In this desperate situation, we can still see many people charging ahead, but can we still see others? Tight front and tight back? Ugly.

What is the so-called 1927- 1937? Golden decade? Nanjing National Government has made a series of achievements in politics, diplomacy and economy, and has also made some progress in the public health system.

Modern medical systems have been introduced in various places, and epidemic prevention and public health systems and regulations have been formulated. Some county-level units have also set up health clinics. Under the leadership of the Provincial Health Department, epidemic prevention work is jointly undertaken by local public security bureaus, police stations, health bureaus and public hospitals. When a large-scale epidemic breaks out, the national government will generally set up temporary epidemic prevention institutions and hospitals, and general hospitals will also set up infectious diseases departments.

At the same time, non-governmental charitable organizations, represented by the China Red Cross, have also made indelible contributions to public health.

Although a group of people have made great efforts, due to the difficult times and various constraints, the health cause is struggling, and it is even difficult to describe it as a drop in the bucket.

In the past ten years, 70% to 80% of Nanjing National Government's fiscal expenditure has been given to the army, while health expenditure often accounts for only 0. 1% of local fiscal expenditure, and per capita health expenditure is only about 1 dime. As the capital of Hubei Province, Wuhan has only 60 administrative and medical staff.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, a national executive meeting was held on June 1 946+1October1. Hubei Provincial Health Department submitted a proposal saying:? County health centers have not been fully established, and the contents that have been established are not rich. Township health institutions are even less popular, and those that have been established are particularly empty. Nowadays, health institutions at all levels are often the first targets of austerity. Those institutions that have been laid off because of poor management have only one supervisor and one or two public servants, and their procedures are often based on the likes and dislikes of temporary local meetings or local administrators, which is tantamount to great damage to health construction. ?

Most of the pictures in this article were actually taken in Shanghai.

This passage can reflect the current situation of Hubei's public health system from War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression to the early victory of the Anti-Japanese War. First, there is a shortage of funds and very few personnel; Secondly, the popularity is not high, and some counties and even hospitals have never owned it; Third, it is deeply infringed by bureaucracy.

1940 after cholera and other diseases began to spread in Hubei, some temporary hospitals were established and some health propaganda was carried out, but the existing personnel, facilities and materials could not meet the needs of the vast majority of people. Therefore, the poor can only turn to witchcraft and earthworks, or they can only choose to wait for death, which has caused widespread tragedy.

So 1940 there are not so many epidemics in Hubei War? War? , not in? Endure? .

At that time, people had not shouted the words "Come on, Hubei, Wuhan". The epidemic in Hubei at that time was just one of the sufferings of the Chinese nation 1940.

This is not to say that people at that time were cold-blooded and heartless.

But people at that time knew that the current situation was that our number one enemy was imperialism and backward domestic productivity.

We must build a modern and great motherland in order to drive away these ruthless epidemics one by one.

Although the epidemic in Hubei was not widely rescued at that time, we can't deny the efforts made by people at that time for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.