Skip Navigation

Social History of Medicine 1992 5(3):413-433; doi:10.1093/shm/5.3.413
© 1992 by Society for the Social History of Medicine
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by EVANS, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Articles

Tackling the ‘Hideous Scourge’: The Creation of the Venereal Disease Treatment Centres in Early Twentieth-Century Britain

DAVID EVANS*

* 79 St Mark's Rd., Salisbury SP1 3AY.

SUMMARY This paper explores the history of the 1913 Royal Commission on Venereal Disease (VD) and the creation of the VD treatment centres. Prior to the Royal Commission little provision existed in the UK for the treatment of civilians with VD. The Royal Commission was established in response to increasing pressure from doctors, feminists and the wider social hygiene movement. In 1916 the Commission recommended the creation of state funded VD treatment centres and the provision of moral instruction. Previous historical work has emphasized the Commission's strategy of ‘moral prophylaxis’. It is argued here that the new treatment centres stood at the core of the Commission's prevention strategy.

The government accepted the Commission's recommendations and the treatment centres were established from early 1917. The Local Government Board took innovative action in going beyond the Commission's recommendations and compelling local authorities to provide the new VD service. The study concludes that despite the difficulty in assessing their long-term impact on public health, the treatment centres represented a significant extension of state health services.

Keywords: Feminism; General Practitioners; Health Policy; Local Government Board; Royal Commission; Sexually Transmitted Disease; Social Hygiene; Syphilis; Venereal Disease; VD


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Epidemiol. Community HealthHome page
A. Mold
Illicit drugs and the rise of epidemiology during the 1960s
J. Epidemiol. Community Health, April 1, 2007; 61(4): 278 - 281.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Sex. Transm. Infect.Home page
A J Robinson, N Payne, and H Ward
Public health training in genitourinary medicine.
Sex. Transm. Inf., June 1, 2006; 82(3): 191 - 192.
[Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.