Shifting Concerns of Public Health in Post-Second World War Hungary From Contagious Diseases to Congenital Disorders

Abstract

In the 1950s the most important epidemiological problem was the threat that contagious diseases represented for the population therefore the aim of healthcare professionals was to significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality rates resulting from these diseases. With the introduction of vaccinations, these previously lethal diseases ceased to represent any serious public health issue for the majority of Hungarians and this was visible in the statistical data. As the genetic turn reached Hungary in the 1960s clinicians recognized that new methods of genetics can be used to understand the causes of mortality and morbidity rates resulting from reproduction. Because accompanying the success of curbing contagious diseases health statistics have shown an increase in congenital disorders and thus the focus shifted towards finding ways to develop these healthcare results. Thus, reproduction became a central concern in the 1960s and 1970s for clinicians. This paper will map out the shift that took place during this period to show that eugenic thinking was present in these public health discussions, and were – to some extent –uncritically integrated into the medical genetic discussions regarding reproduction.