Disease Frequency in Africa before "Development"
Old Hospital Records from the Congo




A distant relative, Julia Lake Kellersberger (maiden name Skinner), was a medical missionary in the (then) Belgian Congo at one of the first hospitals in the region. In her book "God's Ravens" (published in 1941) she detailed the diseases and conditions treated in their hospital:


Mission Hill Hospital, Congo
cases treated in the years between 1924 and 1938:

Sleeping Sickness (Trypanosomiasis) 11,125
Malaria 41,047
Hookworm (Ankylostomiasis) 36,604
Liver Worm (Schistosomiasis) 9,633
Round Worm (Ascariose) 1,496
Tapeworm (Taenia) 15
African Tick Fever (no cases after 1928) 59
Leprosy 1,488
Tropical Ulcers (all kinds) 10,718
Smallpox 833
Elephantiasis (especially scrotal) 91
Syphilis 1,389
Yaws 635
Gonorrhea 1,305
Inguinal Hernias 533
Femoral Hernias 4
Other Hernias 15
Hydrocoeles 163
Wounds (all kinds) 2,336
Goiters (Colloid) 91
Abscesses 571
Amputations 3
Pneumonia 142
Bronchitis, colds 7,080
Pyorrhoea 1,126
Teeth Pulled 212
Burns 142
Murder 1
Dropsy (Ascites) 97
Urinary Fistulas 31
Rectal Fistulas 4
Pulmonary Tuberculosis 209
Enlarged Glands 586
Itch 8732
Fractures 80
Dysenteries and Diarrhoea 15,060
Babies delivered in hospital (ten year total) 711
Insane (ten year total) 65
Diabetes 3
Cancer 5
Appendicitis 2
Eye and Ear infections 3,498


Mission Hill Hospital Staff:
1 Doctor
1 Missionary Nurse
11 Graduate Native Nurses
30 Student Nurses
5 Women Nurses

Summary for the years 1924 through 1938:
New cases (different individual patients) registered at the dispensary: 55,298
Consultations at the dispensary: 1,406,160
Daily average attendance for fifteen years: 281
Number of major operations: 949
Number of minor operations: 2005
Number of deaths: 823
Number of African Tribes represented: 22
Number of White patients: 238


The incidence of Diabetes (3 cases) and Cancer (5 cases) is particularly striking, given their prevalence today in countries saturated with white sugar and pesticides. Note that HIV/AIDS was not known to medical science at the time and urban diseases such as Hepatitis, Cholera, Typhoid and Dengue Fever had not yet arrived in the area.


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