William "Jock" Alves ( 1909 – 10 February 1979) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

-born

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

n physician and politician who served as mayor of Salisbury (now

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

) from 1972 to 1974. He later served as a member of the Senate of Rhodesia until his death. An

epidemiologist Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent diseases. It is a cornerstone ...

by profession, he directed a

bilharzia Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, bilharzia, and Katayama fever is a neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. It affects both humans and animals. It affects the urinary tract or the intestines ...

research laboratory in Salisbury and later worked with the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

on parasitic disease projects.

Medical career

Alves was of Scottish origin. Alves earned his Bachelor of Arts from a South African university. He pursued his doctorate at the

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The institu ...

, but had to return to

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

in 1947 before completing his degree. He later returned and was awarded a PhD in 1953. Alves was a physician and was the director of the

Bilharzia Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, bilharzia, and Katayama fever is a neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. It affects both humans and animals. It affects the urinary tract or the intestines ...

and

Malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

Research Laboratory in Salisbury from 1944 into the 1950s. He also belonged to the department of

parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their host (biology), hosts, and the relationship between them. As a List of biology disciplines, biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in questio ...

at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He was considered an international authority on bilharzia, and during his tenure at the laboratory developed a treatment for the disease that was successfully tested on 25 patients. He served on the

(WHO) expert committee on parasitic diseases. In 1958, he led a WHO project in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. In 1961, he was senior advisor on a WHO malaria eradication project in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

Political career

Alves was elected to the

Salisbury City Council Salisbury City Council is a Parish councils in England, parish-level council for Salisbury, England. It was established 2009 structural changes to local government in England, in April 2009 and is based in the city's historic Salisbury Guildhal ...

and served as deputy mayor from 1971 to 1972 under Mayor Roger Bates. On 2 August 1972, he was sworn in as mayor Salisbury at a special meeting of the city council. He served as mayor until 7 August 1974, when he was succeeded by Tony Tanser. Alves continued to serve on the city council, and later became a member of the Rhodesian senate. In 1978, as chairman of the city council's African affairs committee, Alves introduced a scheme to set up a two-tier system in which blacks and whites would each have municipal representation on their own city councils. The proposal passed without debate in January 1978. In June 1978, Alves made a speech before the senate in which he urged the Rhodesian government to include the African nationalist leader

Joshua Nkomo Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (19 June 1917 – 1 July 1999) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1990 until his death in 1999. He founded and led the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) ...

, and possibly

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...

, in any potential settlement negotiations. He was a member of the ruling Rhodesian Front party, and was for a time a party spokesman. Alves died at Andrew Fleming Hospital in Salisbury on 10 February 1979, aged 70.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alves, Jock Date of birth missing Year of birth missing 1979 deaths 20th-century Scottish medical doctors Academics of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Alumni of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine British emigrants to Southern Rhodesia British epidemiologists Deputy mayors Harare city councillors Mayors of Harare Members of the Senate of Rhodesia Rhodesian Front politicians Rhodesian people of British descent Rhodesian physicians Scottish parasitologists White Rhodesian people World Health Organization officials Zimbabwean epidemiologists 1900s births