Priority was given to turning the Canal Zone into a healthy area for people to work in. [L3 804 / Dr William Crawford Gorgas], a sanitation officer who had worked in Havana, Cuba, during the [G 15 / Spanish-American War] of 1898, was contracted to undertake the enormous task of ridding the area of yellow fever and malaria (SEE TRIUMPHS AND SCANDALS SECTION). On arriving in Panama, Gorgas referred to the area "as one of the most disease-ridden places he had ever seen." In two years, however, he managed to [V 006 / completely eradicate] yellow fever and control malaria. He also installed highly developed sanitation facilities - a sewage system was put in and clean water was made available - and built hospitals with isolation units.
