Children's Healthcare During World War II

Abstract

The results of historical and medical research reflecting the state of children's healthcare system during the most difficult period of our country history — World War II, 1941-1945 yy. — are presented in the article. The aim of this research is to show how the most tough challenges of children's healthcare were solved according to the archive and literature sources. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that most of the works on this topic were carried out in the Soviet era, so because it was ideology-driven, these works could not show the real picture. Rare studies of the post-Soviet era about situation with children's health during the war are fragmented or have been performed only in some regions. The analysis of the performed study has shown that (despite the extraordinary circumstances of wartime) all the actions performed by central and local health authorities for children health maintenance could be considered as successful. The following tasks were solved: control of infection as the primary cause of children mortality, sensible food security during shortage or even lack of necessary products, implementation of medical help for evacuated children, restoring of paediatric services on the territories that were rid of occupation.

Keywords

• великая отечественная война 1941-1945 гг.
• эвакуация детей
• алиментарная дистрофия
• детская заболеваемость
• детская смертность