9 - The African response

Summary

SLEEPING SICKNESS AND AFRICAN SOCIETIES

Chapters 7 and 8, in discussing at length the main features of the Belgian sleeping sickness campaign until 1930, stressed the proliferation of legislation and directives. The colonial authorities hoped to control the spread of the disease through administration; in the early decades with no cure, the emphasis was very much upon prophylaxie biologique. As early as 1904, a state doctor had claimed that ‘to stop the propagation and diffusion of disease is no longer a scientific problem but simply an administrative problem’.

There is ample evidence with which to piece together the history of Belgian colonial medicine, the history of Europeans in Africa. But what about Zairean history? For instance, how did Zaireans perceive the enormous upheavals between 1891 and 1930? There can be no doubt that for many Africans populations, a significant feature of Belgian conquest and colonisation was increased incidence of illness and death. The ensuing brutal exploitation of the land and people meant that sleeping sickness, previously endemic in regions of the territory, sometimes spread and became epidemic. We can begin to understand the African point of view, firstly, by outlining the major cultural and social factors moulding their perceptions and, secondly, by examining their responses to sleeping sickness and the colonial public health programme. It must be stated at the outset that the major sources for this section are European; nevertheless, as will be demonstrated, a careful reading of the reports and accounts of independent travellers, missionaries, state agents and medical staff reveals much in the search for the African view.