The aim: The aim of the research is to determine and systematize administrative and medical measures aimed at curbing cholera in the city of Kharkiv in the time of the Russian Empire, to assess the relevance of the experience in fighting the disease, to determine the impact of epidemics and anti-epidemic measures on Kharkiv residents’ public health.
Materials and methods: General scientific and specific historical methods were used, and methods of related sciences were applied as well. The main methods of historical research included, in particular, historical analytical, chronological and comparative historical; methods of medical statistics, etc. The historiography of the issue was analyzed, unpublished archival materials, local press were studied.
Conclusions: Despite the progress made, mortality remained high in general, proving the public health system had to be reorganized. The death rate shocked the local community so much that the authorities had to apply an information blockade. Anti-epidemic components included explanatory work by priests and police, sanitary measures, measures on strict compliance with observation and quarantine, food supplies to the blocked city and free medicine dispensation, involvement of all available medical institutions, and the establishment of special temporary facilities, actual mobilization of medical personnel. It was impossible to act in the other way, because the treatment methods seemed to be ineffective, like today, under the COVID-19 pandemic. When the medical component is proved ineffective in fighting the epidemic, relatively effective administrative measures, tried and tested over the centuries reasonably seem to be useful, and this experience has not lost its relevance.

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