Sanitary condition in Hijaz in World War I

Man's struggle with disease dates back as far as human history. Humanity has suffered great losses from infectious diseases throughout history. The element that triggers these diseases is the wars that have a negative effect on people's nutrition, hygiene, adverse geographical conditions and housing conditions. In wars, armies and countries had to fight not only each other, but also infectious and deadly diseases. In this study, infectious diseases During World War I, the effects of the Hijaz region were focused on. The fact that the Hicaz region is far from the center and its connection with the center is only provided by the Hicaz Railway has caused difficulties in resupply of the region. Also with the Arab Revolt (1916), attacks on the Railway were organized. With the increase of these attacks later in the war, the Turkish forces in the region were disconnected from the center and the forces that were unable to resupply experienced a lack of both ammunition and basic supplies. This has led to the spread of diseases in the region. Failure to treat patients due to lack of sanitary materials also increased the mortality rate from the disease. The lack of geographic conditions of the region and the lack of clean water caused epidemic diseases to continue to increase during the war. The most common infectious diseases in the region are dysentery, fever-i racia, stained typhoid, cholera and malaria. The Ottoman State tried to take measures against diseases such as vaccination of the people and soldiers, quarantine implementation, individual and clothing cleaning. However, the report received from the region, the Telegraph, the war statistics indicate that the disease and related deaths in the region have increased, indicating that these measures have been insufficient. Keywords: I. World War, Hicaz Front, Health, Medical, Diseases, Epidemic Diseases