France officially framed colonial health services as protecting native populations from decay.

Evidence

A major circular from Colonial Minister Daladier to all governors general in 1924 illustrated the government’s intention to take this tack overseas. Daladier stressed “the absolute necessity to extend as fully as possible to our colonies the services of preventive medicine, hygiene and assistance, whose principal goal is to assure the sanitary protection of the collectivities and to protect them from the causes of mortality or decay [deperissementj which prevent the development of the native races.” — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 771

Categorization

• QUESTION: Daladier’s framing of preventing native ‘decay’ - is the underlying goal colonial labor productivity or humanitarian concern, or both fused?
• SEED: What kind of article angle does that open for the republicans West Africa piece?