Doctors or Medical Aids: The Debate over the Training of Black Medical Personnel for the Rural Black Population in South Africa in the 1920s and 1930s

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Periodical article

Title:	Doctors or Medical Aids: The Debate over the Training of Black Medical Personnel for the Rural Black Population in South Africa in the 1920s and 1930s
Author:	Shapiro, Karin A.
Year:	1987
Periodical:	Journal of Southern African Studies
Volume:	13
Issue:	2
Period:	January
Pages:	234-255
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	public health rural areas Education and Oral Traditions History and Exploration Ethnic and Race Relations Health and Nutrition
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/2636859
Abstract:	Over the past decade, health workers and academics the world over have begun to reassess whether or not the superimposition of western-based, highly technological medical training on developing countries is appropriate to combating the diseases prevalent in these areas. These critics have viewed individualized, curative, and hospital-based medicine as less effective than preventive and community medicine in eradicating diseases. South African critics have proposed two solutions: one option is that medical training be adapted to meet the challenges of rural conditions; the other option is that in addition to technologically sophisticated doctors, primary health care workers be trained. This article describes this debate, with C.T. Loram as the chief proponent of the former proposal, and Sir Edward Thornton as a passionate supporter of the latter scheme. Notes, ref.