1950. Health
authorities, assisted by the Rockefeller Foundation beginning in the
1920s, made considerable progress in eliminating mosquitoes and reducing
the incidence of malaria before World War II. The campaign was continued
by the Italians during their occupation. The ravages of war greatly
increased the spread of malaria from 1945 to 1947; according to
Communist reports, 60 to 70 percent of the population were afflicted in
those years, in comparison with 16.5 percent in 1938.

The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration provided
food, medicine, and antimalarial assistance in 1945 and 1946, and the
Communist regime followed up with a concerted effort against the
disease, which reduced the percentage of persons afflicted to
approximately 7 percent in the early 1950s. Health officials declared in
1970 that malaria had been eradicated by 1967, and no cases had been
recorded after that date.

Health authorities reported that measles had been eliminated by 1970
through a program of mass vaccinations. The last major epidemic, that
of 1954-55, afflicted almost 14 percent of the population. The incidence
among children under three years of age was 60 percent, and 1,712
children under age fifteen died.

A broad program against tuberculosis was begun in the 1960s that
included general prophylactic measures and vaccine injections. Health
officials planned completion of vaccinations countrywide in 1970. It was
estimated that almost 15 percent of the population had tuberculosis in
the mid-1950s. Officials reported that the incidence of this disease had
dropped to less than 0.2 percent in 1968.

The Health Ministry reported progress in combating many other diseases.
Syphilis, once prevalent, was eliminated. A broad program of serologic
examinations involving over 2.3 million persons between 1947 and 1968
was utilized to detect venereal disease and was instrumental in reducing
the rate of syphilis infection from 3.14 percent in 1949 to 0.02 percent
in 1968. Incidence rates per 1,000 population of other illnesses
decreased from 1955 to 1968 as follows: abdominal typhoid, from 5.2 to
2.4; dysentery, from 87.7 to 14.5; diphtheria, from 2.3 to 0.5;
poliomyelitis, from 0.4 to 0.1; brucellosis, from 2.4 to 0.8; and
arthritis, from 2.2 to 0.8. Trachoma was eliminated, and no cases of
rabies were reported in the 1967-69 period. Deaths per 100,000
population from contagious diseases, including influenza, decreased from