History of Public Health Essay

This essay will compare the 19th, 20th and 21st century in relation to the main public health strategies used in United Kingdom. It will also compare the similarities and differences of the living conditions in towns and cities between the three named centuries above.

Steven Johnson provides a thought-provoking observation of the bacterial disease cholera in his book The Ghost Map. He explores the means by which the deadly Vibrio Cholorae was able to devastate a developing section of London in only a week’s time at the start of September in 1854. Johnson offers details on the development of cities, which supplied the perfect environment for the bacterium to thrive and kill off thousands of people in weeks. Before the 1854 epidemic, Cholera was an unidentifiable mystery to the scientists and thinkers of London. Theories of how the illness spread and how it was to be cured varied extensively, each concept with its own unwavering supporters eager to spread their ideas while debunking others. In The Ghost Map, Johnson tells the

In the early 1900’s medicine was making some steps closer into some great improvements for health and better understanding of the human body. Doctors with sufficient knowledge of the human body and cures for diseases and viruses were scarce. People were much more concerned with government and politics, than health and medicine, until one of the greatest and most grotesque lethal pandemics that’s struck the earth in human history. This pandemic the “Spanish Flu” spread so rapidly and had an extremely high mortality rate. This was caused by the close contact of humans and poor cleanliness and sanitation, and the host (virus) and the body taking harsh action

Dr. John Snow was known as an intelligent physician who had a background with anesthesia advancements. He believed that cholera was a waterborne disease and that it was contaminated by the sewage. Snow’s goal was to convince others about the issue and stop it from spreading. His theory about the intestinal disease, in which was published in 1849 in an article, was laughed at and many doctors believed that his idea was “wrong” and they continued to believe that it was airborne. He wanted to prove many wrong and begin to further research and experiment the disease.

The work of these two men changed the contemporary views on how disease was spread. By solving the cholera mystery, they helped contribute to making the world safe for bigger cities. Over the next few years a lot of changes were made. Both the medical and public health establishments latched onto Snow’s waterborne theory and through one of the greatest feats in engineering history, London started the process of making an entirely new sewer system. This, along with other precautions such as boiling water that was suspected to be contaminated, brought an end to city-wide choleric outbreaks. Besides the improvements in sewage, the improvements of sanitary conditions all around greatly diminished the spread of disease and held a major part in making the modern city possible. Overall, it turned out that something that was once horrendous and deadly for a massive amount of people, eventually turned out to be helpful for the future of mankind. (Johnson)

Although medicine today is comparatively more advanced, that is a more recent change than one would like to think. For instance, not even 150 years ago, “Hippocrates and Galen would have recognized and largely agreed with most medical practices.” Barry addresses this topic of medical advancement at the beginning of his book by producing a well researched, albeit a little too long, history of western medicine. He provides examples of how medicine evolved from the teachings of Hippocrates, Galen, and Vesalius to a more “modern” form of medicine. This was done in order to explain how prepared the medical community was in the face of this impending virus. Unlike the other epidemics, the people of the early 19-century should have been prepared to face the influenza with all of their exciting and new medical equipment and practices, but there was something in their way of advancement—universities.

What aspects and characteristics of American health care of the 18th and 19th centuries have had a major impact on shaping today’s U.S. health care system?”

He linked the common illness cholera to people whom drank from the wells. He observed those getting ill and which areas and pumps they drank from and recorded it on a map, he was then able to establish all those getting ill were in fact drinking from the same pump, and consequently in 1854 John Snow removed the handle of the Broad Street pump and ceased the epidemic of Cholera in Soho, London

Health history of a patient is an important tool in identifying health issues and devising efficient interventions to address them. Hence, health providers can use health history information to diagnose, treat and plan for the care of the patients (Ball et al., 2006). In that light, we will focus on the patient named BB for purposes of privacy and confidentiality. BB is a 70-year-old Caucasian female. The patient resides and recently just moved to Show Low, Arizona. She is married and operates her business with the help of her husband. The interview was conducted at her home in Show Low, Arizona. More importantly, the patient's consent was sought before this meeting and she was assured of the confidentiality of the information shared

In order to understand current health delivery services changes and formulate predictions, one must thoroughly comprehend the three developmental eras of the health care system. The evolution of our current health care system began in 1850, and has metamorphosed in three time periods, 1850 to 1900, 1900 to World War II (WW II), and WW II to 2009. Significant distinct and overlapping trends in disease prevalence, availability of health care resources, social organizations, and the public's knowledge and perception of health and illness and technology.

The book The Great Influenza by John Barry takes us back to arguably one of the greatest medical disasters in human history, the book focuses on the influenza pandemic which took place in the year 1918. The world was at war in the First World War and with everyone preoccupied with happenings in Europe and winning the war, the influenza pandemic struck when the human race was least ready and most distracted by happenings all over the world. In total the influenza pandemic killed over a hundred million people on a global scale, clearly more than most of the deadliest diseases in modern times. John Barry leaves little to imagination in his book as he gives a vivid description of the influenza pandemic of 1918 and exactly how this pandemic affected the human race. The book clearly outlines the human activities that more or less handed the human race to the influenza on a silver platter. “There was a war on, a war we had to win” (Barry, p.337). An element of focus in the book is the political happenings back at the time not only in the United States of America but also all over the world and how politicians playing politics set the way for perhaps the greatest pandemic in human history to massacre millions of people. The book also takes an evaluator look at the available medical installations and technological proficiencies and how the influenza pandemic has affected medicine all over the world.

England created the first vital statistics, and at the same time creating a controversy of this type of collection. In the mid 1800’s Louis Pasteur developed the germ theory, giving U.S physicians new procedures and lines of attack (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2015 p. 6, 7).

Directions: Refer to the Milestone 1: Health History guidelines and grading rubric found in Doc Sharing to complete the information below. This assignment is worth 175 points, with 5 points awarded for clarity of writing, which means the use of proper grammar, spelling and medical language.

known history. Their effects impact the world on a broad spectrum, further than just the looming fatality as they spread. One that is notorious within western civilization, The Black Death, was described as "an epidemic, possibly of bubonic plague,” devastated more than half of Europe’s population during the 13th century, initiating “almost three centuries of epidemics.” The implications of the plague reverberated throughout Europe and it’s neighboring lands, causing mass panic for those fortunate to avoid it, while changing the shape for both politics, as well as the economies (Noble et al. 304).

Public health is a dynamic field of medicine that is concerned primarily with improving the health of populations rather than just the health of individuals. Winslow (1920) defined public health as;