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Tropical Sanitation in Asia—Problems and Prospects¹

The Public Health Problem in Tropical Areas

The term "tropics" is interpreted to mean those regions which fit the cartographic definition, and also the other extensive warm and torrid regions of the world where life expectancies are very low. Together, these contain the great majority of the world's peoples. Although this great area contains salubrious communities, it is characterized by public health problems which are basic deterrents to socio -economic progress.

The three chief infections in this great area appear to be malaria, the filth-borne diseases and tuberculosis, although other infections may be paramount in some regions and in most regions there are many important public health problems. Of these three diseases, the first two are primarily amenable to environmental control measures, i.e., by the generic practice of sanitary engineering. Malaria is commonly considered to be the chief problem, and at the present time certainly is the most readily controllable of the three; but it is first in rank largely because the malarial infections are usually lumped together due to common mode of transmission and methods of control.

¹ One of four papers composing a Symposium on Sanitary Engineering in the Tropics held on November 15, 1952, during the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at Galveston, Texas.

² Address: P. O. Box 769, Savannah, Georgia.