Health in Micronesia Over the Years

Hezel, Francis X. (2004-11-20). Health in Micronesia Over the Years. Micronesian Counselor (Report). Kolonia, Pohnpei: Micronesian Seminar.

• Has attachment: File:RMNU9JKC.pdf

Abstract: "Micronesia is an elastic term as it is used for the islands in the Western Pacific just north of the equator. In this presentation we will be using the term to refer principally to the Caroline Islands (comprising what is now the Republic of Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia), the Marshall Islands, and to a lesser extent the Mariana Islands (which includes both Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). All these islands have a history of political association with the US that dates back at least to the end of the Second World War, and much earlier in the case of Guam. The influence of Western cultures on these islands extends much further into the past–to the mid-nineteenth century, at least, when American whaleships began making regular stopovers for rest and refreshment and American Congregationalist missionaries first found an audience for their preaching.

In truth, we know almost nothing about the health of Micronesian people before this time other than what little can be inferred from prehistoric human remains and genealogies. How adversely the pre-contact conditions in the islands affected the health of islanders is unclear. Life for Pacific Islanders may well have been “nasty, short and brutish,” as Hobbes suggests it was for his European ancestors. This we do not know. But we do know that sustained Western contact, especially during the last two centuries, impacted greatly on health conditions in the islands, both for good and for bad. This is the story that I propose to outline in this presentation..."