The State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service of the Russian Federation was established in the USSR a century ago and was firstly aimed at stopping and preventing the deadly epidemics’ spread in the country.
The Russian Empire held one of the leading positions in the world in terms of the prevalence of infectious diseases, and World War I and Civil War made the situation even worse.
Since 1917, the large funds were applied towards the sanitation of inhabited areas and involvement of the population in sanitary measures. The Decree «On Sanitary Authorities of the Republic», published on September 15, 2022, introduced a unified organization of sanitary affairs, and sanitary and epidemiological stations were created. Now this date is considered the birthday of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the Soviet Union paid great attention to the training of future epidemiologists, microbiologists, and infectious disease specialists. In the early 1930s, the first faculties of preventive medicine were created in the medical institutes.
The World War II led to the migration of vast masses of the population, the devastation of territories, and consequently to a serious deterioration in the epidemic situation in the USSR. Dysentery, malaria, typhus, and viral hepatitis were actively spreading in the country. To fix the situation, sanitary and epidemiological detachments, infectious diseases hospitals, and washing and disinfection troops were sent to both army units and liberated areas.
After war, the sanitary and epidemiological service developed and the radiation hygiene appeared. It was aimed at controlling and reducing the doses of ionizing radiation received by the enterprises’ personnel and the population.
In the early 1970s, Sanitary and Epidemiological Service of USSR received authority in the field of environment pollution control and infectious diseases management. Disposal facilities were introduced into industrial enterprises, and the sanitary norms and rules had to be observed while founding new settlements. An effective vaccination system was formed in the country, including the creation and implementation of vaccines against measles, mumps, poliomyelitis, influenza. Moreover, USSR provided India, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Burma with smallpox vaccine, which contributed to the fight against this disease.
Dear Colleagues, we congratulate you on your professional holiday and centenary of the state sanitary and epidemiological service! We wish you a lot of plans, accomplishments and professional victories!