preview

Public Health Reform Movement

Decent Essays

The rise of public health advocates in the 19th century determined that public health education, regulation, and influencing the general public on sanitation and other public health concerns were the most affect routes to improving public health initiatives (Bethel, 2018). It was clear that the general public needed to change their habits that contributed to their unsanitary lifestyles, such as poor hygiene practices, alcohol consumption, and even prostitution. Public health reformers juggled ideas of utilitarianism and personal freedom. While public health reformers wanted to embrace utilitarianism (decisions that benefitted the greatest number of those within a group), reformers also felt strongly about allowing and maintaining personal freedoms …show more content…

Many movements related to changing and improving personal behavior were initiated during this era. Some of those movements included Prohibition, Health Reform Movement, The Anti-Saloon League, and the Pure Food and Drug Act (Bethel, 2018, np). These movements demanded public health policies, regulations, codes, and standards which generated static between the ideas of utilitarianism and personal freedom (Bethel, 2018). Ultimately, it was decided that spreading and encouraging public health education would benefit both sides. It has been determined that changing behavior in a democratic society is generally easier to achieve by educating necessary changes rather than forcing the changes on the …show more content…

In fact, HIV/AIDS contradicted everything that was originally associated with Anti-Septic Consciousness (Bethel, 2018, np). HIV/AIDS made its appearance in the 1980’s. Little was known about HIV/AIDS even further into the 1980’s, so when a case was confirmed the general public only knew how to respond to the threat of germs, which was not the concern or threat in regards to HIV/AIDS since this disease is only transmitted by “certain body fluids-blood, semen (cum), pre-seminal fluid (pre-cum), rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, and breast milk” that “come in contact with a mucous membrane or damaged tissue or be directly injected into the bloodstream (from a needle or syringe)” (CDC, 2018, para.

Get Access