Mongolia

MONGOLIA, a people's republic formed in 1911 from a former Chinese province. From 1911 to 1921, it existed as Autonomous, or Outer, Mongolia, and since 1921 as the Mongolian People's Republic (MPR). It is located at the northern extremity of Central Asia between 42-52° N and 88-116° E. On the north and west, its natural boundaries are the mountain ranges of the Altai, Tannu-Ola, the Sayan Mountains, the Khentii Range, and the spurs of the Yablonovy Range; on the east, the spurs of the Greater Khingan mountain range; on the southwest and partly the south, the mountain ranges of the Mongolian Altai. This ring of mountains is interrupted in the south and partly in the southeast, where Mongolia adjoins the vast Gobi Desert. On the north, Mongolia borders the USSR and the Tuvan People's Republic, further to the east with Manchuria, in the southeast and south with Inner Mongolia, and in the west with the Chinese province of Xinjiang (so-called Chinese Turkestan). The exact dimensions of the area of the Mongolian People's Republic have not been established, but it can be approximately estimated at 1,500,000 km². Demography. Annual population censuses are conducted in the MPR. Changes in population size: 1924 - 546.0 thousand people, 1925 - 651.7 thousand people, 1926 - 683.9 thousand people, 1927 - 698.7 thousand people, 1928 - 710.5 thousand people. The significant population growth in 1925 and 1926 is explained by the improvement in statistical accounting. The actual population growth is insignificant. Thus, according to birth and death census data, the growth rate in 1925 was 0.14%, and in 1926 - 0.5%. Sex composition of the population: in 1927, males - 353.0 thousand people (50.5%), females - 345.7 thousand people (49.5%); in 1928, males - 360.6 thousand people (50.8%), females - 349.9 thousand people (49.2%). Among the male population, lamas (monks) accounted for: in 1927 - 92.3 thousand people (26.1% of all men and 13.2% of the entire population); in 1928 - 94.9 thousand people (26.2% of all men and 13.3% of the entire population). The sex composition of the population (the predominance of men) does not exceed the corresponding norm for the entire globe (988-992 females per 1,000 males). Age morphology is somewhat unfavorable for the children's age group (0-7 years). Thus, according to the censuses, the following arithmetic means of annual age results in percentages are established for two groups (0-7 years and 8-17 years): Males Females 1927 1928 1927 1928 1 2.20 | 2.66 2.14 2.57 1.63 1.87 1.59 1.90. The children's age group (0-7 years) in terms of the percentage ratio of each year of this group to the entire population yields (for both boys and girls) to the older age group (8-17 years). The main mass of the population consists of Mongols, who in turn are divided into several tribes; the overwhelming majority belongs to the Khalkhas, who live in a solid mass across almost the entire territory of Mongolia except for the Kobdo district. Their number is over 500,000 people. The second largest group is the Derbets. They live mainly in the Kobdo district and nomadize from the left bank of the Kobdo River to the Tannu-Ola range, capturing the area of Lake Ubsa and the lower reaches of the Tes River. Besides the Khalkhas and Derbets, there are several other small Mongol tribes within the MPR (Zakhachins, Uriankhais, Torguts, Gokhars, Olets, etc.). The sanitary condition of Mongolia remained extremely grave until recently. The predominance of an extensive pastoral livestock-breeding economy caused the economic and cultural backwardness of the population. General living conditions, which remained unchanged for centuries up to recent times, are extremely primitive and unsanitary. Housing. The national dwelling of the Mongols is the yurt. It consists of a wooden framework and a felt covering. Four, five, or six oblong ("khan") rectangular wooden lattices are placed on the ground in a circle. These lattices are tied together in one place, and a two-leaf wooden door with a frame is inserted between them. Resting on the lattices are 60-70 long poles rising in a dome shape. Above the latticed walls, the upper end of the poles rests against a wooden ring, the "ton", approximately 1 m in diameter, for which corresponding sockets are made in the ring. This entire structure is tied in several places with hair ropes. The skeleton of the yurt is covered with felts on all sides and bound on top with wide hair girdles. In the center of the yurt is a hearth consisting of several stones; it is fueled with argol (dry manure), which gives a strong and good fire. To the right of the entrance is a bed without legs, on which felts and various rags lie. Around the yurts is a mass of manure and dirt, inside the yurt it is also dirty, and in the bedding and clothing there is a significant amount of ectoparasites—fleas and lice. The population in most cases almost never washes; underwear is very often worn until it falls apart, after which it is discarded. Diet is extremely monotonous and provided mainly by pastoral farming. In summer, the population feeds on milk and dairy products. Kumis and araki (milk vodka) are prepared from milk. An extremely important product of summer nutrition is tea. Mongols drink the so-called green tea "dzuzan", pressed from unfermented leaves into large rectangular bricks measuring 35x18x4 cm. The tea is brewed on the hearth in large cast-iron bowls; milk, salt, and butter or mutton fat are added to the tea. They drink tea without sugar. In winter, they drink tea without milk; once a day before evening they eat meat, but extremely insufficiently, which is why by spring the population is severely exhausted, just like the livestock, which all winter must forage for food from under the snow. The significant previous consumption of alcoholic beverages, and especially "araki", is currently persecuted by the revolutionary government of Mongolia. It is worth noting vitamin starvation due to the complete exclusion of vegetables from the diet. All this shows how great was the poverty of the broad masses of cattle breeders (arats), who were under the merciless exploitation of the secular and spiritual feudal lords who dominated before the revolution. Only the revolution of 1921, which established a people's revolutionary government at the head of the country, and the measures of the recent congresses of the Great Khural (6th) and the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (8th) are leading the country onto the path of revival and recovery. The young revolutionary government has deployed a broad program of social reforms improving the economic situation of the broad masses and ensuring their cultural rise. Organization of Public Health. Until 1930, Tibetan medicine was the state medicine, subsidized from the budget. "Medical" duties were performed by lamas, the so-called "emchi", some of whom graduated from special "medical" schools at major monasteries, while others undertook medical work without any training. The level of medical knowledge of the Tibetan "emchi" basically does not rise above scholastic-dogmatic rules established several centuries ago. Essentially, Tibetan medicine is typically quackery, representing the worst kind of quackery, since it is based in most cases not on the personal experience of the quack, but on dead scholastic schemes memorized from ancient books. At the basis of all medical science lies the doctrine of the pulse, the "assessment" of which is the main and often the only objective criterion in making a diagnosis. Auscultation, percussion, palpation, not to mention the latest research methods, are unknown to the Tibetan "emchi". Treatment boils down to drug effects; hygienic and dietary advice are very rare. Medicines are given in powder form (so-called "zadachki"), using roots, leaves, berries, flowers, fruits, bark, wood, shells, various stones and rocks, individual organs of animals, birds, insects, and reptiles, etc., crushed in a mortar. Treatment has a scholastically-symptomatic character. Beginning in 1925, Mongolia became increasingly acquainted with European medicine. Of exceptional importance for the propaganda of European medicine were the medical expeditions of the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR, sent: the 1st in 1927, the 2nd in 1928, and the 3rd in 1929. In 1926, a small hospital and a small outpatient clinic, run by two doctors, began functioning in the city of Ulaanbaatar. In 1928, permanent medical posts were organized in Bayantümen-Khan-Uul (Sambeise) and Altanbulag. From 1929, a rapid growth of European medical posts began, the number of which reached 8 by the beginning of 1930, and 25 by the beginning of 1931. By a resolution of the 6th Great Khural (early 1930), all Tibetan medical posts were removed from the budget, and budget funds are spent only on European medical posts, which explains the rapid growth in their number. From 1929, the Ministry of Health invited an advisor on public health organization issues. The growth of the work of European medical posts is characterized by data from the hospital and outpatient clinic in Ulaanbaatar; the number of outpatient visits (rounded): 1925 - 2,500; 1926 - 18,000; 1927 - 20,000; 1928 - 50,000; 1929 - 82,000; 1930 - 135,000; the number of persons treated in the hospital: 1925 - 26 people, 1926 - 564 people, 1927 - 439 people, 1928 - 791 people, 1929 - 2,316 people, 1930 - 5,000 people.

The average monthly attendance of medical stations in 1930 was 1,800 people in Altan-Bulak, 2,500 people in Bayan-Tümen-Khan-Uul, 1,500 people in Undurkhan, and 2,000 people in Tsetserleg. Locations demand the opening of more and more European medical stations. By the end of 1930, the following hospitals functioned in the Mongolian People's Republic: in Ulaanbaatar, 2 hospitals: one general with 300 beds, with departments for surgery, internal medicine, infectious diseases, pediatrics, obstetrics, male and female venereal diseases, ophthalmology, and tuberculosis; the other, a psychiatric hospital with 80-100 beds; in Bayan-Tümen-Khan-Uul, a general district hospital with 30 beds; in Undurkhan with 15 beds; in Altan-Bulak with 30 beds; in Tsetserleg with 30 beds; in Uliastai with 15 beds; in Khovd with 15 beds; in Ulaangom with 10 beds; in Van-Kuren with 5 beds. In 1930, about half a million tugriks (tugrik = 1 ruble) were spent on the organization of a new psychiatric hospital, the repair of the entire hospital in Ulaanbaatar, and the construction of the remaining hospitals. Maternal and infant welfare. In Ulaanbaatar, a children's home for 25 children, a children's consultation clinic, a milk kitchen, and a nursery have been organized. Children's consultation clinics have been organized at the largest medical stations, and a nursery in Altan-Bulak. Special importance is attached to the development of maternal and infant welfare. Specially trained nurses for mother and child protection from the indigenous population are being prepared to be sent out to the so-called "red yurts." Infectious diseases. Registration of infectious diseases is set up comparatively decently in the city of Ulaanbaatar; in the rest of the Mongolian People's Republic, such registration is not yet established. In Ulaanbaatar, over a period of 1¹/₂ years (March 1928–October 1929), the following number of cases was registered per 60,000 population: scarlet fever—164; mumps—144; chickenpox—131; dysentery—98; croupous pneumonia—97; measles—70; smallpox—46; typhoid fever—41; pertussis—39; erysipelas—28; diphtheria—4; plague—2; rubella—2; anthrax—1. In 1930, epidemics of measles and chickenpox occurred among schoolchildren. Cases of croupous pneumonia run a comparatively severe course among Mongols. Russians fall ill with scarlet fever predominantly; Mongols fall ill rarely. A special place is occupied by outbreaks of plague endemics, which are characteristic of the Mongolian People's Republic and are a scourge for the country and its national economy. In recent years, outbreaks of plague should be noted in 1926 in the Undurkhan region (23 people died), in 1928 outbreaks in the Undurkhan and Mishig-Gun regions and in Ulaanbaatar itself (2 cases), in 1929 outbreaks in the Undurkhan region (over 20 deaths). The cause of plague diseases is steppe rodents, the so-called tarbagans, which are carriers of plague bacilli. Venereal diseases are very widespread in the Mongolian People's Republic, especially syphilis and gonorrhea; chancroid is less common. A noticeable number of cases of lymphogranulomatosis is noted, a generally rare form in other countries. In cities, the infection rate of the population with syphilis reaches 40% and higher according to physicians' observations, and with gonorrhea—50% and higher. In steppe regions, the infection rate of the population with venereal diseases is lower. A large percentage of domestic and congenital syphilis is noted. The prevalence of venereal diseases explains the infertility of many Mongol women (31% of women, according to one survey) and the insignificant fertility of childbearing women (according to the same survey, an average of less than 2 births per woman who has completed her reproductive life). The infertility of Mongol women is 2 times higher than the infertility of Russian women living in the Mongolian People's Republic; the number of living children calculated per one surveyed woman among Mongol women is 3 times less than that of Russian women. The spread of venereal diseases is facilitated by the early onset of sexual life among Mongol youth (73% of women begin sexual life before the age of 15), as well as somewhat promiscuous sexual life. Sanitary affairs are only just being organized. Compulsory vaccination has been introduced. In 1930, about 20 vaccination detachments carried out extensive work in the central regions of Mongolia. Sanitary supervision (1 physician) has been organized in the city of Ulaanbaatar. Urban, district, and settlement sanitary councils have been organized, working under the guidance of physicians. A number of sanitary regulations were passed through the government and a number of mandatory resolutions through municipal self-government in the city of Ulaanbaatar. Spa treatment, despite the presence of a number of springs of the most diverse type and their large therapeutic capacity, was not developed at all until 1930. In 1930, 2 medical detachments were sent; one headed by a balneology specialist to Tsetserleg and to the Pro River. Veterinary affairs began with the organization in 1923. The main impetus for this was cattle plague epizootics, which caused almost total destruction of entire herds. Veterinary supervision organized the Sangin Anti-Plague Station (18 km from Ulaanbaatar), which grew by 1930 into a Research and Practical Institute. In 1930, there functioned throughout the Mongolian People's Republic 8 medical veterinary stations, 15 paramedic and 9 quarantine veterinary stations, for a total of 32 stations. The production of vaccination materials in Sangin in 1930 reached, in accordance with the plan, 600,000 doses of ovina against sheep pox, 400,000 doses of anthrax vaccine, 50,000 doses of anti-plague serum, 20,000 doses of anti-anthrax serum, and 1,500 doses of antirabies emulsion. According to the five-year plan for public health and veterinary affairs, the organization by 1935 throughout the Mongolian People's Republic is outlined: in the medical network—46 medical and 16 paramedic stations; in the veterinary network—18 medical and 52 paramedic stations.