Colonial Medicine in Ibadan: Perceptions and Reactions of Indigenous Populace, 1900 - 1945

Abstract

It is obvious from Archival materials and oral evidence that the attitudes of the local population in Ibadan to colonial medicine between 1900 and 1928 were cold, unfriendly and hostile. Hospital treatments offered by colonial administration to indigenous population were either neglected or accepted with skepticism. This position was a far cry from what obtained between 1929 and 1945. Reactions and response of the local people to colonial medical amenities became friendly. Demand for hospital and dispensary services as shown by medical statistics increased considerably. Consequently, the paper examines the factors responsible for a change in the perceptions and reactions of indigenous populace to colonial health institutions in the study period.