ZDRAVSTVENE I SOCIJALNE PRILIKE U BRODU NA SAVI ZA VRIJEME PRVOG SVJETSKOG RATA

Abstract

During World War I, social and health conditions were difficult in Brod na Savi, as it stationed a large number of troops, and the military hospital was crowded with patients. With so many able-bodied men and breadwinners mobilised, the town’s economy verged on the brink of poverty, but people managed to keep starvation at bay. The most common diseases among civilians were tuberculosis, malaria, intestinal infectious diseases, diphtheria, and venereal diseases, and in 1915 cholera broke out that lasted five months. At the end of 1918 “Spanish flu” also hit the town. The number of wounded and sick soldiers occasionally surpassed the hospital’s capacity, so they had to be stationed at the local school facilities for a while. Over two thousand people died in the military hospital, which suggests that the total number of patients who went through the hospital had to be very large. Unfortunately, there are no records to show the hospital’s mortality rate or disease prevalence. We are currently trying to establish the demographics of the 2000 dead buried at the local cemetery during WWI using the death records we have.