Abstract
To make gold mining profitable in South Africa, the industry required healthy workers, and so they invested in their health. While other health issues have been explored in historical research, the mosquito-borne viral disease of yellow fever has not received attention. Yet — both despite and because of the absence of actual outbreaks — it is an interesting case through which to trace developments of epidemiology and public health interventions in the region. During and after WWII, with officials continuing to be concerned about yellow fever around Africa, techniques of containment and prevention were developed and administered by the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WNLA). These were created in partnerships with the Union of South Africa’s Health Department and the South African Institute for Medical Research, a Johannesburg-based organization designed to oversee worker’s health in the gold mines, develop vaccines, and account for epidemic disease around the Union more generally. Recruitment of “tropical” migrant labourers from north of South Africa’s borders meant that WNLA had to find ways not only to promote worker health to continue gold production but also to ensure that their recruitment systems did not introduce yellow fever into South Africa. This meant ensuring that both infected workers and Aedes aegypti mosquitos did not travel south. WNLA devised interventions that included vaccine rollouts for migrant labourers north of the border and certifications to record inoculations. They developed worker transport (particularly by aircraft) and methods of isolation and quarantine. WNLA was involved in mosquito research and control in and around the mines. This dissertation provides an account of medical and political responses to yellow fever and how it was managed by various actors in South Africa.