It has been very interesting to note the reaction of American methods upon those previously in vogue in neighbouring colonies. At first our efforts to make Asiatics clean up, and to eliminate diseases like leprosy, cholera and plague, were viewed with mild amusement, not unmixed with contempt; but the results which we obtained soon aroused lively interest.
Foreign governments began to send representatives to the annual meetings of the “Philippine Island Medical Association,”[7] in order to learn more of our methods. From these small beginnings sprang “The Far Eastern Association of Tropical Medicine,” the biennial meetings of which bring together the most experienced, skilful and widely known physicians and sanitarians in the East for an interchange of views and experiences which is invaluable, and greatly facilitates concerted action between the various governments concerned in dealing with what may be termed “international health problems.”
The first meeting of this Association was held at Manila, the second at Hongkong. The third will take place at Saigon.
The results of a rigid enforcement of the “Pure Food and Drugs Act” are worthy of more than passing notice. Such enforcement has been comparatively easy as the officials concerned are not hampered by politics. The Philippines were at one time a dumping-ground for products that could not be sold elsewhere, but it is now possible for Filipinos to obtain wholesome preserved foods and unadulterated drugs, except in very remote places where none of any sort are available.
The cost of our medical and sanitary work has been comparatively small. The per capita rate of taxation here is lower than in any other civilized country. What we have done has been accomplished without spending vast sums of money or resorting to military measures.
The results obtained are very largely due to the faithfulness and efficiency of Dr. Victor G. Heiser, who was chief quarantine officer of the Philippines when he succeeded Major E. C. Carter as commissioner of public health on April 5, 1905, and was later made director of health when the original board of health was abolished as an administrative entity. He has continued to hold the office of chief quarantine officer, and thus has been in complete executive control of the health situation for eight years.
Through good report and ill, mostly ill, he has given unsparingly of his time, his skill and his wisdom, always treating the government money as if it were his own.
His tenure of office has been long enough to enable him to inaugurate and carry out policies, and thus get results.
Seldom, if ever, have health officials been more viciously and persistently attacked than have Dr. Heiser and myself. The assaults on us have been the direct result of a firm stand for a new sanitary order of things, established in the interest of the whole body of inhabitants of these islands, civilized and uncivilized. We both welcome the profound change in public sentiment, which has slowly but surely come about as a result of practical accomplishment.
Many very grave health problems still confront the insular administration. Of these the most serious are the eradication of tuberculosis and the reduction of the very high infant mortality rate.