Public health and medical care conditions during the Greek independence war (1821)

Abstract

Τhe 1821 Greek War of Independence, following 400 years under Turkish occupation, resulted, after long-term sacrifices, in the establishment of Greece as a sovereign nation-state, marking the first in the autocratic Europe of the time. The poor public health and the lack of doctors, medical supplies, safe water, food, and sewage favored the outbreak of epidemics. The Greek cause attracted worldwide support, and a great number of philhellenes, physicians, and aristocrats offered services and even their lives on the battlefields. Greek and foreign historians stress the international importance of the Greek Revolution for the activation of the term nation into a social force for democracy and the right to public and individual health and welfare all around the world.