Multi-Morbidity during the First World War: The Case of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)

The disease burden carried by Africans during the First World War, and especially porters from Northern Rhodesia, has been under-researched, poorly understood, and unrecognised; particularly in the context of multi-morbidities, such as dysentery, bubonic plague and jiggers, which occurred simultaneously. Secondary literature on disease during the First World War in Africa primarily focuses on influenza; however, other diseases also had significant implications for Africans. Therefore, this article addresses an understudied aspect of Northern Rhodesia and the First World War: the outbreak of multi-morbidities during and immediately after the war. The article draws on a range of archival sources, including reports from the White Fathers of the Missionaries of Africa Faith Encounter Zambia Archives and early colonial records from the National Archives of Zambia. Using a syndemic lens, the article also examines the integrated healthcare interventions adopted by African communities that experienced multi-morbidities. It thus provides a historical contribution to recent scholarship on economies of scale in public health and integrated healthcare in treating multi-morbidities.