سفرنامه

 This research studies the health status and its dimensions in the Iranian society of the Naseri period from the perspective of two female orientalists who traveled to different cities during their stay in Iran and wrote about their experiences. It aims to get familiar with the health status, the design of its components and dependents, which will be a foundation for future researches on social studies of health.

 The research method is qualitative and based on the analysis of the travelogues of Dieulafoy and Bell as a document.

Ethical Considerations:

 In this research, honesty and trustworthiness in the use of historical sources have been fully respected.

 Introduction of fatal and epidemic diseases such as cholera, malaria, tuberculosis and typhoid and other common diseases such as digestive diseases, pinworm infection and skin diseases and paying attention to environmental health focusing on water pollution and sewage disposal are among the findings of the research. In addition, it also provides information on the eating habits, nutritional status and physical structure of Iranians of that period.

 Bell and Dieulafoy’s travelogues provide useful information about the general health status and the incidence of various diseases in certain groups (including children) and deepen the population trends in terms of the resulting mortality statistics. Certainly, the respective governments of these orientalists have paid attention to the health dimensions of Iranians in their political and economic evaluations in order to communicate with the Iranian government. Considering the place of public health in the Iranian lifestyle, it can be clearly seen that the lifestyle, including manners, customs, eating habits, clothing and etc. have acted as social components that determine the health of Iranians.

 The presence of Westerners with different goals in the Safavid period was more prominent than other dynasties. During this period, some travelogue writers with various purposes wrote travelogues that have been used in most of the researches related to Safavid history. One of the topics covered by travelogue writers is health. In this research, the intention is to analyze the views of these people to determine how reliable these books are for research on health in the Safavid period?

 This research is an analytical-critical study that uses written sources of the Safavid period and foreign sources (European travelogues) to examine the views of travel writers on health.

Ethical Considerations:

 In the present study, the ethical aspects of library study including originality of texts, honesty and trustworthiness have been observed.

 In this study, it was found that travel writers have different views on health and in some cases, their statements, although at the same time, were in Iran; There were many differences.

 The study of Safavid travelogues in the field of health led to the conclusion that some travelogue writers with their political and personal goals and intentions, did not record the correct information in their works. Therefore, in quoting these sources, they should be used with more reflection and accuracy.

From the travelogues of Western tourists, physicians, etc. physicians in the Qajar era can be deduced as follows: that throughout the geography of Iran, the situation of all types of diseases and patients did not have the same conditions. Due to the geographical dispersion as well as cultural facilities and resistance, the health and treatment of Iranians in different parts of Iran was in very different conditions. The proximity to the capital and the western and maritime borders provided special conditions that varied greatly in the incidence and severity of the disease and its lethality. If we want to list one by one the problems faced by the Qajar kings, it has been one of the most important health problems and treatment of various diseases. The increasing prevalence of infectious diseases on the one hand and the ineffectiveness of traditional medicine methods on the other hand And the occasional outbreak of infectious diseases put a lot of pressure on different strata. In this article, by studying the western travelogues of the Qajar period, we intend to study the health of Iran in that period and the position of traditional physicians and their type of treatment (which was based on Galenian medicine of four natures) and its degree of fusion with superstition magic. Let's examine the extent of the deviations and errors of traditional medicine in the treatment of society's diseases, and why traditional physicians have insisted on these errors and the ways they went wrong. What harms they did to individuals and society, and along with it medicine. What has been the basis of modern treatment methods and the reasons for its acceptance by society? To what extent has the role of Europeans and, above all, European physicians in the process of modernization of traditional medicine? And what have been the most important deterrents and facilitators of society in the modernization of traditional medicine? How has modern medicine been more successful over time than traditional medicine? Finally, we can use library resources to study modern and traditional medicine in the Qajar period based on Western travelogues and with a descriptive and analytical method to compare and observe the available resources and facts and unspoken facts about the role of European physicians and the need We recounted the people who could not be met by traditional medicine in order to reach the correct reasons for accepting traditional medicine in the society of Iran at that time.

Lack of hygiene and general health was deteriorating during Qajar era and as general hygiene was unorganized. Failure to follow personal hygiene beside lack of public education on basic health principles, caused diseases spread that some of them was due to use the polluted water. In this era use the polluted water caused many diseases such as cholera, digestive diseases, guinea worm, and skin diseases. In this study we have tried to show the impact of polluted waters on diseases spread in Naseri age from foreign tourist’s point of view. The findings show that from foreign travel writers’ point of view, lack and inadequate distribution of waters, ignorance public toward sanitation and neglect of central state to water hygiene caused water pollution in Naseri age and consequently diseases spread. The method in this cross-sectional study was conducted using information and library documents.