Healthcare System of the Uzbek SSR During the World War II

Resumen

The history of the social life of the population of the Uzbek SSR during World War II is an
insufficiently studied topic. In the literature, public health issues have been analyzed through
the prism of medical advances in the activities of military hospitals. At the same time,
archival documents revealing the real state of health of the population and the position of
medicine in the rear remained outside the field of view of researchers for a long time.
On the basis of a comparative analysis of heterogeneous statistical material, reports and
official correspondence of medical departments with governing bodies, demographic changes
are revealed, the roots of social problems associated with food shortages and lack of sanitary
and hygienic conditions, the reasons for the spread of various infectious and gastrointestinal
diseases as well as shortcomings in the activities of medical institutions, lack of specialists,
poor material and technical security are studied. According to new statistics, 1,951,000
people were mobilized to the front from the Uzbek SSR during the long war. At the same
time, over 1,500,000 people were evacuated from the front line to the republic and over
1,000,000 people of various ethnic backgrounds were deported. Thus, during the war years,
the population of the republic increased by 7,329,000 people. In these conditions, the growth
of food consumers dictated the need to solve a number of socio-economic problems.
Naturally, the transition of the economy to a war footing, the attraction of women and
children to hard fieldwork, in industrial enterprises, the establishment of long working hours
and a tough labor regime had a negative impact on the reproductive health of the population.
Especially the decrease in the number of men due to their mobilization to the front became
the main reason for the decrease in the number of births, and difficult living conditions led to
an increase in the death rate of the population.