Mortality and morbidity from infectious and non-communicable diseases in Greece during Axis/Nazi military occupation (1941-1944)

Georgios Rachiotis; Dimitrios Papagiannis; Theodoros Dardavesis; Panagiotis Behrakis

doi:10.53854/liim-3001-20

Mortality and morbidity from infectious and non-communicable diseases in Greece during Axis/Nazi military occupation (1941-1944)

Infez Med. 2022 Mar 1;30(1):150-155. doi: 10.53854/liim-3001-20. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Georgios Rachiotis¹, Dimitrios Papagiannis², Theodoros Dardavesis³, Panagiotis Behrakis⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece.
² Nursing Department, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece.
³ Department of Hygiene, Social-Preventative Medicine and Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁴ Institute of Public Health, The American College of Greece, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

Greece has been severely damaged by the Second World War and the subsequent military occupation of the country by the Axis forces headed by Nazi Germany. The Greek society and economy were dislocated as a result of plundering of the country's vital resources, as well as enforced payments, instead paid to the occupying forces. The dramatic food shortages and famine appeared plaguing especially large cities. There is very limited information on the trends of mortality and morbidity (1941-1944) at a national level. The morbidity and mortality statistics of the General Statistical Service of Greece were assessed and the incidence morbidity and mortality rates have been calculated. As denominator population we used the population of Greece according to 1940 census. The morbidity due to exanthematic typhus, typhoid fever, dysentery and meningitis has been elevated over the period 1940-1944. An elevated specific mortality due to tuberculosis, malaria and typhoid fever was observed over the period 1940-1941. Regarding non-communicable diseases, the mortality due to hemorrhagic stroke was increased after 1940. In conclusion, we found that the Axis/Nazi military occupation of Greece had considerable health effects on infectious diseases and hemorrhagic stroke mortality. Deaths ostensibly due to infectious diseases (e.g. tuberculosis or malaria), were expedited by the hunger famine of the period under investigation. With regard to the elevated mortality due to hemorrhagic stroke, we believe that the stressful events of occupation and famine have triggered increased psychosocial stress which in turn may have increased the risk of hemorrhagic stroke mortality during the period of Axis/Nazi occupation of Greece.

Keywords: Axis; Greece; famine; morbidity; mortality; occupation.