Peer-reviewed article
THE ROLE OF PERSONALITY IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICAL ENLIGHTENMENT
Nadiya Fedchyshyn, Аркадій Шульгай ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This historical article describes how Ukrainian physicians in the late 19th and 20th centuries brought medical knowledge to the general public. It draws on the work of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, the Ukrainian Medical Society and the "Prosvita" reading rooms. It identifies four directions of this work: sanitary education and epidemic control, maternal and child healthcare, medical terminology and publishing, and the preservation of medical history and ethics. Child well-being is one part of a broader story about public health education. The article credits Feliks Selskyi with helping to reduce child and maternal mortality, overcome superstitions and introduce hygienic standards in childbirth.
Key points
- Medical enlightenment developed in four directions, one of which was maternal and child healthcare.
- Early mass health education focused on infectious diseases such as typhus, cholera and tuberculosis, using pamphlets and "loud reading" in rural reading rooms.
- Yevhen Ozarkevych laid the ground for Ukrainian-language medical terminology, founded the journals Likarskyi Zbirnyk and Zdorovlie, and established the free outpatient clinic "Narodna Lichnytsia".
- Feliks Selskyi's work contributed to reducing child and maternal mortality, overcoming popular superstitions and introducing hygienic standards during childbirth.
- Ivan Horbachevsky explained nutritional hygiene and metabolism to the general public.
Limitations
The abstract is a historical overview centred on individual physicians and organisations, and child health is only one of several themes. It gives no data on how far child or maternal mortality actually fell, and it does not test whether these activities caused any change.
Abstract
The article is devoted to highlighting the historical path, directions, and significance of the educational activities of Ukrainian physicians in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It demonstrates how medical science expanded beyond private consulting rooms, transforming health protection into a public and national initiative through the integration of foundational knowledge with daily prevention, culture, and public health awareness. The synthesized experience of the Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh), the Ukrainian Medical Society (ULT), and the network of “Prosvita” reading rooms attests to the development of medical enlightenment across four key directions: sanitary and hygienic education alongside the fight against epidemics; maternal and child healthcare; the development of professional terminology and publishing; and the preservation of medico-historical memory and ethics. The initial stage of mass public health education in Ukrainian lands was associated with overcoming infectious diseases (typhus, cholera, tuberculosis) through the publication of pamphlets and the format of “loud reading” in rural reading rooms. A foundational contribution to the system was made by prominent figures: Yevhen Ozarkevych laid the ground for Ukrainian-language medical terminology, founded the journals Likarskyi Zbirnyk and Zdorovlie, and established the free outpatient clinic “Narodna Lichnytsia”; Academician Ivan Horbachevsky explained the fundamentals of nutritional hygiene and metabolism to the general public; Zenovii Levytskyi and Ovksentii Korchak-Chepurkivskyi advanced preventive medicine, sanitary statistics, and anti-epidemic protection. The work of Feliks Selskyi contributed to reducing child and maternal mortality, overcoming popular superstitions, and introducing hygienic standards during childbirth. An important vector was the preservation of scientific heritage and ethics, realized in the works of diaspora and domestic scholars.