1917: Austria Establishes Europe’s First Health Ministry

On 24 November 1917 Austria became the first and only country in Europe to establish a Ministry for Public Health (k. k. Ministerium für Volksgesundheit). Previously, this sector had been the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior. However, it was not until 30 July 1918 that the first health minister, Professor Ivan Horbaczewski (1854–1942), was appointed. The new minister was born in 1854 in Zarubinetz near Tarnopol in Galicia. He had studied medicine at the University of Vienna and then worked as an assistant to the Professor of Medical Chemistry. In 1883 he was appointed an associate and, one year later, a full professor of this subject at the Charles University in Prague. In 1906 he was appointed to the Austrian Health Council (Oberster Sanitätsrat) and, in 1909, he was made a life member of the Upper Chamber of the Imperial Council.

Discussions about creating this kind of health ministry had also been taking place in the United Kingdom in summer 1917. But the Spanish Flu meant that no ministry was set up until 1919. 

Franz Schausberger: Ähnlich und doch ganz anders. Spanische Grippe vor 100 Jahren und Corona heute. Historisch-politische Kurzstudien vol 2. pm Verlag. Salzburg 2020.