2 - Sleeping Sickness Epidemic in British Southern Cameroons 1922-1961: The History of a Colonial Medical Response
Corresponding Author(s) : Michael Kpughe Lang
Afrika Zamani,
No. 25 (2017): Afrika Zamani: An Annual Journal of African History
Abstract
This article examines the engagement of the British colonial administrative and medical officials in the campaign against the sleeping sickness epidemic in Southern Cameroons. The engagement was informed by the disease’s negative bearing on the colonial agenda and involved the implementation of control policies. The campaign had three fronts: treatment in humans, treatment in animals, and efforts to get rid of the tsetse fly. The control measures which overlooked indigenous coping strategies were misdirected, brutal, and flawed. Enforcing these measures involved complex interactions between colonizers, colonial subjects, and local intermediaries. This occasioned socio-economic disruptions and indigenous resistance as livelihoods were depleted. While control measures boosted exploitative colonial investments, they triggered low economic productivity and underdevelopment among the local populations as they were deprived of access to food, travel, trade, and job opportunities outside their communities. This was destructive to communal life, economically painful, and aggregately harmful to indigenous pride, wellbeing, and survival.
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- Aka, E., 2002, The British Southern Cameroons 1922-1961: A Study in Colonialism and Underdevelopment, Platteville: Nkemnji Global Tech.
- Baronov, D., 2008, The African Transformation of Western Medicine and the Dynamics of Global Cultural Change, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
- Bivens, D., 2015, ‘African Sleeping Sickness in British Uganda and in Belgian Congo, 1900-1910: Ecology, Colonialism, and Tropical Medicine’, MA thesis, Virginia Commonwealth University.
- Correa, S., 2012, Combating Tropical Diseases in the German Colonial Press, Rio de Janeiro: História Ciências Saúde–Manguinhos. Available online at: http://www.scielo.br/hcsm.
- Courtin, F. et. al., 2008, ‘Sleeping Sickness in West Africa (1906-2006): Changes in Spatial Repartition and Lessons from the Past’, Tropical Medicine and International Health, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 334-344.
- Ebune, J., 2016, ‘The Application of British Indirect Rule in the Kumba Division: A Decolonial Assessment, 1916-1961’, European Journal of Research and Reflection in Arts and Humanities, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 26-43.
- Ewane, H., 2008, ‘Native Administration in Kumba Division, 1922-1961’, unpublished MA thesis, University of Buea.
- Ford, J., 1971, The Role of Trypanosomiasis in African Ecology: A Study of the Tsetse Fly Problem, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Forkusam, A., 1978, ‘The Evolution of health services in the Southern Cameroons under British Administration: 1916-1945’, MA thesis, University of Yaounde.
- Gelfand, M., 1953, Tropical Vistory: An Account of the Influence of Medicine on the History of Southern Rhodesia, 1890-1923, Cape Town: Juta.
- Ghogomu, A., 1989, ‘Trypanosomiasis: A Public Health Priority in Cameroon’, Annals Sociale Belge Medicale Tropicale, Vol. 69, No. 1, pp. 231-236.
- Graboyes, M., 2010, ‘Sleeping Sickness: Ancient Scourge, Modern Problem: Ecology and African Knowledge’, in Exploring Disease in Africa: AIDS, Sleeping Sickness and Small Pox, Boston: African Studies Centre, pp. 1-14.
- Jordan, A., 1986, Trypanosomiasis Control and African Rural Development, London: Longman Group Limited.
- Lyons, M., 1992, The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire, 1900-1940, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Machila, N., 2013, ‘Trypanosomiasis, the State and Livelihoods in Eastern Province of Zambia, 1908-1964’, MA thesis, University of Zambia.
- McKeown, T., 1977, The Modern Rise of Population, Academic Press.
- Mokake, F., 2011, ‘Public Health and Public management in British Southern Cameroons, 1922-1961: The case of Victoria Division’, MA thesis, University of Buea.
- NAB, 1933, File No. Sc 1, Sleeping Sickness and Tsetse Fly Investigation.
- NAB, 1940, File No. B1626, Letter by Medical Officer to the Senior District Officer, Bamenda Division.
- NAB, 1941, File No. B1626, Letter by Assistant District Officer of Kumba Division to the District Officer of Bamenda Division.
- NAB, 1941, File No. B1626, Notes on the Conduct of a Sleeping Sickness Survey in the Cameroon Province.
- NAB, 1950, File No. AB81, Report on the Cameroons under United Kingdom Trusteeship to the Trusteeship Council, pp. 126.
- NAB, 1950, File No B1626, Letter by Medical Officer in charge of Sleeping Sickness Service to the Director, WAITR.
- NAB, 1952, File No. AB83, Report on the Cameroons Under United Kingdom Trusteeship to the Trusteeship Council.
- NAB, 1961, File No. B1281, Southern Cameroons Annual Medical Report.
- NAB, File No. B1626, Report on the Conduct of a Sleeping Sickness Survey in the Cameroons Province.
- NAB, File No. B42, Sleeping Sickness Correspondence.
- Osaak, O., 2002, Disease in the Colonial State: Medicine, Society and Social Change Among the Aba’ Nyole of Western Kenya, Westport: Greenwood Press.
- Ransford, O., 1983, Bid the Sickness Cease: Disease in the History of Black Africa, London: John Murray.
- Roberts, J., 2015, ‘Sharing the Burden of Sickness: A History of Healing in Accra, Gold Coast, 1677-1957’, PhD thesis, Dalhousie University.
- Rudin, H., 1968, Germans in the Cameroons 1884-1914: A Case Study in Modern Imperialism, New York: Greenwood Press Publishers.
- Scoones, I., 2014, The Politics of Trypanosomiasis Control in Africa. STEPS Working Paper 57, Brighton: STEPS Centre.
- Tebo, L., 2014, ‘Public Sanitation in the British Southern Cameroons 1922-1961: A Historical Evaluation’, MA thesis, HTTC Bambili.
References
Aka, E., 2002, The British Southern Cameroons 1922-1961: A Study in Colonialism and Underdevelopment, Platteville: Nkemnji Global Tech.
Baronov, D., 2008, The African Transformation of Western Medicine and the Dynamics of Global Cultural Change, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Bivens, D., 2015, ‘African Sleeping Sickness in British Uganda and in Belgian Congo, 1900-1910: Ecology, Colonialism, and Tropical Medicine’, MA thesis, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Correa, S., 2012, Combating Tropical Diseases in the German Colonial Press, Rio de Janeiro: História Ciências Saúde–Manguinhos. Available online at: http://www.scielo.br/hcsm.
Courtin, F. et. al., 2008, ‘Sleeping Sickness in West Africa (1906-2006): Changes in Spatial Repartition and Lessons from the Past’, Tropical Medicine and International Health, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 334-344.
Ebune, J., 2016, ‘The Application of British Indirect Rule in the Kumba Division: A Decolonial Assessment, 1916-1961’, European Journal of Research and Reflection in Arts and Humanities, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 26-43.
Ewane, H., 2008, ‘Native Administration in Kumba Division, 1922-1961’, unpublished MA thesis, University of Buea.
Ford, J., 1971, The Role of Trypanosomiasis in African Ecology: A Study of the Tsetse Fly Problem, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Forkusam, A., 1978, ‘The Evolution of health services in the Southern Cameroons under British Administration: 1916-1945’, MA thesis, University of Yaounde.
Gelfand, M., 1953, Tropical Vistory: An Account of the Influence of Medicine on the History of Southern Rhodesia, 1890-1923, Cape Town: Juta.
Ghogomu, A., 1989, ‘Trypanosomiasis: A Public Health Priority in Cameroon’, Annals Sociale Belge Medicale Tropicale, Vol. 69, No. 1, pp. 231-236.
Graboyes, M., 2010, ‘Sleeping Sickness: Ancient Scourge, Modern Problem: Ecology and African Knowledge’, in Exploring Disease in Africa: AIDS, Sleeping Sickness and Small Pox, Boston: African Studies Centre, pp. 1-14.
Jordan, A., 1986, Trypanosomiasis Control and African Rural Development, London: Longman Group Limited.
Lyons, M., 1992, The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire, 1900-1940, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Machila, N., 2013, ‘Trypanosomiasis, the State and Livelihoods in Eastern Province of Zambia, 1908-1964’, MA thesis, University of Zambia.
McKeown, T., 1977, The Modern Rise of Population, Academic Press.
Mokake, F., 2011, ‘Public Health and Public management in British Southern Cameroons, 1922-1961: The case of Victoria Division’, MA thesis, University of Buea.
NAB, 1933, File No. Sc 1, Sleeping Sickness and Tsetse Fly Investigation.
NAB, 1940, File No. B1626, Letter by Medical Officer to the Senior District Officer, Bamenda Division.
NAB, 1941, File No. B1626, Letter by Assistant District Officer of Kumba Division to the District Officer of Bamenda Division.
NAB, 1941, File No. B1626, Notes on the Conduct of a Sleeping Sickness Survey in the Cameroon Province.
NAB, 1950, File No. AB81, Report on the Cameroons under United Kingdom Trusteeship to the Trusteeship Council, pp. 126.
NAB, 1950, File No B1626, Letter by Medical Officer in charge of Sleeping Sickness Service to the Director, WAITR.
NAB, 1952, File No. AB83, Report on the Cameroons Under United Kingdom Trusteeship to the Trusteeship Council.
NAB, 1961, File No. B1281, Southern Cameroons Annual Medical Report.
NAB, File No. B1626, Report on the Conduct of a Sleeping Sickness Survey in the Cameroons Province.
NAB, File No. B42, Sleeping Sickness Correspondence.
Osaak, O., 2002, Disease in the Colonial State: Medicine, Society and Social Change Among the Aba’ Nyole of Western Kenya, Westport: Greenwood Press.
Ransford, O., 1983, Bid the Sickness Cease: Disease in the History of Black Africa, London: John Murray.
Roberts, J., 2015, ‘Sharing the Burden of Sickness: A History of Healing in Accra, Gold Coast, 1677-1957’, PhD thesis, Dalhousie University.
Rudin, H., 1968, Germans in the Cameroons 1884-1914: A Case Study in Modern Imperialism, New York: Greenwood Press Publishers.
Scoones, I., 2014, The Politics of Trypanosomiasis Control in Africa. STEPS Working Paper 57, Brighton: STEPS Centre.
Tebo, L., 2014, ‘Public Sanitation in the British Southern Cameroons 1922-1961: A Historical Evaluation’, MA thesis, HTTC Bambili.