Health Measures During The Construction of The Panama Canal - The Outcome

The Outcome

The first two and a half years of the American canal effort were substantially dedicated to preparation, much of it making the area fit for large-scale human habitation. A very significant part of this was the sanitation program put in place by Gorgas. Nearly $20 million was spent on health and sanitation during the ten years of the construction period.

In the end, these efforts were a success: by 1906, yellow fever was virtually wiped out in the canal zone, and the number of deaths caused by the other top disease, malaria, was also reduced significantly. The hospitals maintained were by far the best to be found anywhere in the tropics; some 32,000 patients were treated per year.

While disease reduction dramatically improved the health of white workers, Black workers, the majority of the canal workforce, continued to die in large numbers - ten times the rate of white workers in 1906. While medical care was provided to all, housing was not provided to Black workers, many of whom had to live in tents and tenements outside the mosquito controlled zone. In the end, 350 white workers had died compared to 4,500 Black workers. While the loss was tragic, it was far less than during the French era.

Today, the canal zone is regarded as free of yellow fever and malaria, a great benefit to the many people who live and work there.