Mehmet Aziz
Mehmed Aziz was the Chief Health Inspector for the British colonial Government of Cyprus in the 1930s and 1940s who is widely credited with eradicating malaria in Cyprus. He was made a CBE by the British crown for this work in 1950.[1]
According to the London newspaper The Times, the three-year project to eradicate malaria in Cyprus was "largely carried out by the Cypriots themselves under the skilful organization of Mr Mehmed Aziz, the island's chief health inspector, who studied with Sir Ronald Ross."[2] Aziz was the originator of the idea and methodology to eradicate malaria in Cyprus, having studied similar attempts to control the disease in Egypt.[3]
According to the American Medical Association, Aziz was "widely honored for his achievement in Cyprus, called 'the great liberator' and likened to St. Patrick for ridding his native land of a pest far more insidious than snakes."[4] Aziz himself was quoted by the same journal as saying, "I was brought up in a village where sanitary conditions were bad. Many young people died who probably would have lived had conditions been better. If in the course of my service I have done something for the improvement and welfare of my country, that is the greatest pleasure I feel."[4]
His daughter was the Turkish Cypriot composer and pharmacist Kamran Aziz.
References
- ^ 'The New Year Honours', in The Times (London newspaper), 2 January 1950, p.8
- ^ 'Malaria Conquered in Cyprus', in The Times (London newspaper), 10 January 1950, p.4
- ^ 'Conquest of Malaria', in The Guardian (UK newspaper), 4 August 1948, p.4
- ^ a b Today's Health (Journal of the American Medical Association, 1951, p.66
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