Colonial press on one of social evils in Vietnam

The paper overviews how colonial press in Vietnam assessed the spread and consequances of prostitution in the 1930s. The research is based on broad analysis of related publications during this period. In the first part the author explores a great threat of these evils to Vietnamese society through presenting data on the number and position of prostitutes, the incidence rate of venereal diseases extracted from colonial press and research. The second part describes the attempts, mainly ineffective, of the colonial government to control and prevent the expansion of sexually transmitted diseases in Vietnam. The third part discovers the role of the press of that time in educating the public about the danger of venereal diseases, methods of their treatment and ways to control prostitution.

colonial Vietnam, social evils, prostitution, venereal diseases, colonial administration, dispensary, press