Sociological Studies on some Realities of People with Hansen’s Disease in Modern Okinawa Island : View from the Nexus between Some Prevention Laws and Social Realities

The follow is our three conclusions. First, even though the Prevention Law for Hansen disease at 1907 and 1931 have been regarded as a symbol of infringement of patient’s human rights, these Laws were not specified the term “segregation”, which made possible to survive patients with Hansen disease in Okinawa Island. These Laws had been included some relief measures. Second, we consider comparative research on Okinawan medical history of three infectious disease: Hansen disease, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
The following is common ground of three diseases, which came to the end after the Okinawan reversion at 1972, owing to “American medical benefits”. These diseases has each own medical conditions and social interests before Okinawan war. In general, Okinawan medical institution was very scarce at that time. In Okinawa society, people with Hansen disease and Tuberculosis were possible to be recuperation at home, because sanatorium for them had not been constructed. For only the people with Hansen disease, however, it was possible to recuperate at home until disclosing infection. From the viewpoint of social stigma, the people with Hansen disease was inferior to the people with Tuberculosis. The people who disclosed infection with Hansen disease had to usually run away from home, then lived at refugee’s camp in Okinawa.
On other hand, socio－economical risk was immanent in Tuberculosis and Malaria, because their infection would decreased to the population of industrial workers. As especially toropical Malaria had high risk to die, many cultivate villages were broken at Iriomote Island. As Malaria prevented from exploitation and economy in Yaeyama, the Island people decided to introduce into the compulsory Medical policy for Malaria. This policy derived from medical practice in Taiwan. Though the Ya-eyama medical institution for Malaria was nearly finished, it was not possible to exterminate before Okinawan War. It was been increased infection with Tuberculosis at rural area in Okinawa Island. To the contrary, because of the number of inpatients with Tuberculosis had been amounted to ten thousand degree, it was not possible to construct the medical policy before Okinawan War. Compare Hansen disease with Tuberculosis and Malaria, the number of inpatients with Hansen disease was low score（about 1000 inpatients ）, and the social-economical risk was small. The construction of sanatorium for inpatients with Hansen disease was preceded to Tuberculosis. Third, in this research, our hypothesis schema《state - region – patient and home》was direct from the history of constructing processes of institution for public health. The political power of state is not direct to patient, but is mediate by region. It is important to construct the managing system of relationship between region and patient, because of the medical policy for infection is not functional without voluntarily corporation from regional institution and patient.