Britannica Sources used in this answer

Which diseases caused many deaths after the Bengal famine of 1943?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Great Famine — famine Starving Irish people raiding a government potato store; drawing from the *Illustrated London News*, June 1842.

While the Bengal famine of 1943 resulted in approximately three million deaths, it is a common misconception that starvation was the sole cause of mortality. In most famines, the majority of deaths are actually the result of disease, which often persists long after the period of acute food shortage has ended.1

During the Bengal famine, while deaths directly attributed to starvation occurred between March and November 1943, the overall death rate did not reach its peak until the period between December 1943 and December 1944. During this time, the primary diseases responsible for the high mortality rate were:

Cholera
Malaria
Smallpox

These illnesses thrived in the weakened state of the population, demonstrating how the health consequences of a famine extend well beyond the immediate lack of food.1