Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Division of Venereal Disease Control
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Before the First World War, prevention and control of venereal diseases received no special attention in either Ontario or the country as a whole. Conditions in the Army focussed attention on the question. Through the efforts of an Honorary Advisory Committee in Military District #2, and the Toronto Academy of Medicine, an Ontario Royal Commission was appointed under the Hon. Mr. Justice Hodgins in 1917. As a result of the Interim Report of the Royal Commission (February 20, 1918), the Government passed a Venereal Diseases Prevention Act in 1918.
An Order-in-Council dated October 11, 1919 appointed Dr. R. R. McClenahan for temporary duty as Assistant Chief Medical Officer of Health in charge of treating prisoners suffering from venereal diseases in Burwash and Mercer Reformatories, and a Division of Venereal Diseases was formed in 1919. The Division assisted local hospitals and boards of health in establishing Venereal Disease Clinics ("special clinics") under section 5 of the Act, with capital and equipment grants and continued supportive grants on a patient-served basis.
In 1920, the Provincial Board of Health obtained a licence to produce its own specific vaccine to be provided free to the V.D. clinics. The work of the Division was broadened to include the monitoring, assessment, prevention and control of tuberculosis and all other preventable diseases, and by an Order-in-Council dated October 10, 1922, the Division's name was changed from the Division of Venereal Disease to the Division of Preventable Diseases in order to reflect its new mandate and scope of activities.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
The function of the Division of Venereal Disease Control was to educate people within the health profession and schools in Ontario. The Division was responsible for distributing financial assistance in the form of subsidies and grants to local health units in the control and treatment of venereal diseases. It also provided consultative services for physicians for the diagnosis, treatment and management of V.D. cases, maintained a central V.D. register, and assisted local boards of health and local medical officers of health to carry out the requirements of the Venereal Diseases Prevention Act.
Address
Venereal Diseases Prevention Act, 1918
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Related entity
Identifier of related entity
Category of relationship
Type of relationship
Dates of relationship
Description of relationship
Related entity
Identifier of related entity
Category of relationship
Type of relationship
Dates of relationship
Description of relationship
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Epithet
Control area
Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Annual Report of the Provincial Board of Health, 1918-1924
Maintenance notes
Archivist(s):
Chang