gms | German Medical Science

Without any institutional ties to colonial territories in this period, first West German experts in child health mainly delivered their international work with Christian missions, International Organisations or in countries that were no colonies any longer, like Iran, Iraq, Libya, or Egypt, later also Indonesia. They often concentrated on social paediatrics, designing, and conducting programs to lower infant mortality by fighting malnutrition and childhood infections. East German paediatricians had less chances to work abroad although they had one of the best experts on child health in the Middle East.

When later Maternal & Child Health continued to be a major focus in Primary Health Care, many West German doctors worked for children in bilateral governmental programs of several countries, clinically as well as by promoting immunization, nutrition, and hygiene. East Germans where rather confined to formally socialist countries like Zanzibar and Ethiopia.