[custom_adv] It was under the Qajars that a centralized public health policy was introduced for the first time in Persia. Therefore, the history of developments in this direction is the most important focus of interest related to health issues during this period. [custom_adv] The first significant efforts in the prevention of contagious disease by a Persian government in modern times were made during the reign of Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah Qājār (r. 1797-1834). [custom_adv] This absolute monarch’s advent to power signaled the start of a rare period of stability after over half a century of tumult in Persia. However, the initial attempt to implement a health maintenance policy in 19th-century Persia was a far cry from its contemporary European vision of “sanitary police. [custom_adv] ” In fact, these first efforts, which were undertaken by visiting Europeans at the court of Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah, were strongly resisted by the ruling elite. For instance, in 1813, when Andrew Jukes, a surgeon of the East India Company, began vaccinating children in capital against smallpox, in the hope of stemming the ravages of an epidemic, he met with little success: this was apparently due to the Per-sian administration’s own covert opposition to his work, which they perceived as a suspect alien interference. [custom_adv] However, governmental resistance to smallpox inoculation was short-lived, and soon Persians came to accept a procedure that they recognized as being akin to the familiar practice of variolation, which was prevalent in Persia at this time (Schlimmer). [custom_adv] Moreover, with the apparent success of European medical intervention among the ruling Qajar elite, Western ideas about public health began to trickle down to ordinary citizens. The change in attitude of Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah’s heir, ʿAbbās Mirzā, is a well-known example of the trend towards the adoption of European preventive health practices. [custom_adv] It was ʿAbbās Mirzā’s recognition of the life-saving value of the smallpox vaccination, together with his quest to preserve the health of his neẓām-e jadid (New Army) which prompted the first efforts to familiarize Persian physicians with the Jennerian method of vaccination. [custom_adv] Accordingly, John Cormick (q.v.), who had succeeded Jukes as ʿAbbās Mirzā’s personal physician, composed a treatise on vaccination at the Crown Prince’s request, so as to promote the practice. [custom_adv] This tract was translated by Moḥammad ebn ʿAbd-al-Ṣabur under the title Resāla-ye ābela-kubi, and in 1829 became one of the first works to be published in the newly-established printing press in Tabriz (Ḥakim Moḥammad). [custom_adv] A ruptured abscess in his liver brought an end to ʿAbbās Mirzā’s life (d. 1833), and shortly thereafter his father, Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah, passed away as well. These developments ushered in a period of conflict and renewed administrative disorganization throughout Persia, as well as an abrupt halt to the momentum which had been building towards a public health policy. [custom_adv] Nevertheless, even the diminutive Moḥammad Mirzā (r. 1834-48), who succeeded Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah, contributed to a limited extent to the dissemination of knowledge about contagious diseases and their modes of transmission. [custom_adv] It is possible that these steps were undertaken due to Moḥammad Shah’s own acute hypochondria and fear of being infected with a disease, rather than for the benefit of the public (Afkhami, 1997, p. 135). [custom_adv] The medical college of the Dār al-Fonun became fully established only after Mirzā Taqi Khan’s demise, and its legacy for public health encompassed much more than its founder had envisioned.
