The role and impact of Western medicine in the North-Western province of Zambia, 1900-1963

In this study, it has been pointed out that throughout the colonial period, there was a prevalent assumption held by the colonial state, missionaries and indeed Europeans (in general) that estern scientific medicine provided the most appropriate means of coping with human disease, Because of these preconceived ideas, the type of medical services provided by both the missionaries and the colonial Government was oriented towards pursuing this same view The missionaries openly associated traditional medicine with heathenism and often excommunicated Christians who were alleged to be involved in the practice,. The Government through various pieces of legislations sought to undermine traditional healing while it offered support to Western medicine.
The discussion, however, shows that despite the hostile environment traditional medicine was faced with, it still continued to survive due to the fact that Western medical
services were still inadequate and inaccessible to the majority
Northwestern province of Zambia. of the peoples of tne / Secondly, it was gradually learnt that not all diseases could be cured by Western medicine So the local people soon realised that there was still something in their traditional medicine which they had relied upon for ages0 Despite the continued existence of traditional medicine, it did not remain static but changed to adapt itself to the new diseases introduced into the society as a result of contact with outsiders, colonialism and penetration of mine based capitalism in Zambia
Through labour migration, the indigenous disease pattern was completely transformed,, let Western medical services did not grow parallel to the changed epidemiology. Instead the main concern of the colonial state* was to ensure that the disease disrupted the colonial economy as little as possible.. Owing to this, short term measures were adopted whenever there was an outbreak of an infectious disease. It was therefore not surprising that throughout the colonial period, curative medicine was used as a substitute for public health The lack of emphasis on preventive medicine led to the continued reoccurences of infectious diseases which could be controlled through innoculation or any other means0
Furthermore, the study will argue that the Western medical work in North-western Province was born out of missionary work But the missionaries did not develop an elaborate medical system because of lack of finances and trained personnel Additionally, the medical ministry was only used as a weapon to obtain access to local people whom they sought to convert,, Therefore,medical work was done as an ancillary to their evangelistic work and therefore had to be subordinated to it0
Lastly, despite its , inadequacy, colonial medicine nevertheless provided a foundation on which post-independence national health service was built