PRIMARY CARE AROUND THE WORLD
Primary health care in the New Hebrides R. DE
SOLDENHOFF, mrcgp,drcog
District Medical Officer, Lenakel
Hospital, Tanna, New Hebrides
SUMMARY. The New Hebrides is a small Melanesian country in the South-West Pacific whose doctors are almost entirely recruited from France and Great Britain, the two countries which jointly administer the territory. This paper describes briefly the difficulties of providing primary health care for a fairly primitive island
began about 1860 with up to 10,000 natives, mostly able-bodied men, being carried off yearly to plantations in Queensland, Fiji, Samoa, and New Caledonia, and even to the mines of western South America (Buxton, 1925/6). It was only by the mid-1930s that the population began to increase again, and many islands
society.
Figure 1. Distribution of population in the New Hebrides. Source: Report on the First Census of the Population 1967, Condominium of the New Hebrides.
Introduction HTHE New Hebrides is a group of islands in the * South-West Pacific situated between 13° and 21° south and from 166° to 171° east with a total surface area roughly the same as Northern Ireland. It comprises two larger islands, 10 medium sized ones and some 60 smaller islands and islets, most being inhabited. The land is volcanic in origin, being mountainous and thickly forrested, often with low swampy plains surrounding the central massif, and with a fringe of coralreefs. The group has a tropical to semi-tropical climate, rainfall being highly seasonal and varying from 420 cm (165 inches) in the north to 231 cm (91 inches) per year in the south. The population of 98,500 is mostly Melanesian and 18 per cent of the people live in the two towns of Vila and Santo (Joint Office of Development Planning, 1977a). The population density varies from 1,257 to 0.6 persons per square kilometre with six per square kilometre overall (Figures 1 and 2), there being some densely populated small islands and some virtually empty larger ones. The depopulation of the islands began with closer contact with Europeans starting at the beginning of the nineteenth century and was hastened by the introduction (sometimes deliberate) of imported diseases such as measles, dysentery, and influenza. The horrors of the sandalwood traffic and 'black-birding'
© Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 1979, 29, 423-426. Journal ofthe Royal College of General Practitioners, July 1979
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Primary health care in the New Hebrides R. DE
SOLDENHOFF, mrcgp,drcog
District Medical Officer, Lenakel
Hospital, Tanna, New Hebrides
SUMMARY. The New Hebrides is a small Melanesian country in the South-West Pacific whose doctors are almost entirely recruited from France and Great Britain, the two countries which jointly administer the territory. This paper describes briefly the difficulties of providing primary health care for a fairly primitive island
began about 1860 with up to 10,000 natives, mostly able-bodied men, being carried off yearly to plantations in Queensland, Fiji, Samoa, and New Caledonia, and even to the mines of western South America (Buxton, 1925/6). It was only by the mid-1930s that the population began to increase again, and many islands
society.
Figure 1. Distribution of population in the New Hebrides. Source: Report on the First Census of the Population 1967, Condominium of the New Hebrides.
Introduction HTHE New Hebrides is a group of islands in the * South-West Pacific situated between 13° and 21° south and from 166° to 171° east with a total surface area roughly the same as Northern Ireland. It comprises two larger islands, 10 medium sized ones and some 60 smaller islands and islets, most being inhabited. The land is volcanic in origin, being mountainous and thickly forrested, often with low swampy plains surrounding the central massif, and with a fringe of coralreefs. The group has a tropical to semi-tropical climate, rainfall being highly seasonal and varying from 420 cm (165 inches) in the north to 231 cm (91 inches) per year in the south. The population of 98,500 is mostly Melanesian and 18 per cent of the people live in the two towns of Vila and Santo (Joint Office of Development Planning, 1977a). The population density varies from 1,257 to 0.6 persons per square kilometre with six per square kilometre overall (Figures 1 and 2), there being some densely populated small islands and some virtually empty larger ones. The depopulation of the islands began with closer contact with Europeans starting at the beginning of the nineteenth century and was hastened by the introduction (sometimes deliberate) of imported diseases such as measles, dysentery, and influenza. The horrors of the sandalwood traffic and 'black-birding'
© Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 1979, 29, 423-426. Journal ofthe Royal College of General Practitioners, July 1979
g>o TORRES ISLANDS °° 0 UREPARAPARA
«MOTA VANUALAVA^^^MOTALAVA
GAUAQ
BANKS ISLANDS
oMERIG 0MERELAVA MAEWO
SANTO
SSMALO
InPENTECOST
\\. ^pAAMA
MALAKULA\ X TONGOA
"t SHEPHERD islands NGUNA« EFATE 100
Miles
$
ERROMANGO
#ANIWA TANNAi
Each dot represents approximately 200 people
FUTUNA
ANEITYUM
