In 1978, cholera swept across the Maldives, with one in 12 of the country's 140,000 population affected. Urgent requests were made to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF for transportation, medical equipment and vaccines which were promptly administered – sometimes by force – to the islanders. Two hundred had died by the time the epidemic was declared under control five months later.
"Medicines, trained medical personnel, and funds were all insufficient," noted a report at the time from the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, which contributed to the international community's USD 670,000 relief effort.
While the 1978 epidemic is part of living memory of older Maldivians it would be like ancient history for most of the country's population – around 45 percent of whom are under 25 years old. The country, relatively unknown to outsiders in the late 1970s, now has a population of 350,000. Rapid development has transformed the society and its healthcare, with communicable diseases all but eradicated within a few years.
Having been the scourge of many seafarers due to its hazardous reefs and infamous fevers, the country now welcomes over one million tourists every year. While the Maldives is now classed as a developed country – one of only four to graduate from the UN's 'less developed' tier – ailments more often associated with underdeveloped societies abound, leaving health authorities with a unique blend of challenges. Malnourishment in the atolls exists, alongside an obesity epidemic among other segments of society, while sex education for a youthful nation is blocked by conservative voices in this '100 percent Islamic nation'.