The Evolution Of Public Health

Describe the origins of public health in the UK from the 19th Century to the present day

The pandemic struck the world and infected 1/3 of earth’s human population, killing over 50 million humans. The world’s top doctors have never witnessed anything of this killing magnitude besides the bubonic plague of 1348 but the transmissibility is of nothing they’ve ever seen in their lifetime or of recorded history. People abruptly became aware of the importance of health, and need of medicine and cleanliness.

Infectious epidemics and pandemics have happened all through mankind's history. “They remain the prime cause of death worldwide and will not be conquered during our lifetimes.” The flu of 1918 was one of the deadliest epidemics in history. “It infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide–about one-third of the planet’s population at the time–and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims. More than 25 percent of the U.S. population became sick, and some 675,000 Americans died during the pandemic.” No one knew how the virus spread, there were no antibiotics to fight it, and no flu shots to prevent it. In the final year of World War I, it struck terror in the hearts of people all across Europe and left more death in its wake than the combined military actions of the combatants. “It killed more Americans in a few months than World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the

Throughout history, infectious diseases have impacted communities around the world. Outbreaks of bacteria and viruses in the past have damaged cities and devastated populations. Over the years, new developments in technology have led to advances in medicine and health. The great strides that have been made over the years have helped improve the lives of individuals and have led to a better environment.

Avian influenza is a disease that has been wreaking havoc on human populations since the 16th century. With the recent outbreak in 1997 of a new H5N1 avian flu subtype, the world has begun preparing for a pandemic by looking upon its past affects. In the 20th Century, the world witnessed three pandemics in the years of 1918, 1957, and 1968. In 1918 no vaccine, antibiotic, or clear recognition of the disease was known. Killing over 40 million in less than a year, the H1N1 strain ingrained a deep and lasting fear of the virus throughout the world. Though 1957 and 1968 brought on milder pandemics, they still killed an estimated 3 million people and presented a new

Although many will believe that this is an issue that will not affect them, the 10 million statistic is an indicator that the scope of this calamity will reach far and wide. Even if impoverished and therefore, unsanitary areas of the world are hit hardest by epidemics, the vast connections of travel that millions of people take everyday will spread a superbug around like wildfire. Like many epidemics such as bird flu, ebola, and SARS, their origins stem from viruses that evolved from animal to human are associated with overpopulated and unsanitary parts of the world such as China and West Africa. Antibiotic resistant bacteria are different in this respect, it’s developing in first world country hospitals, patients prescribed antibiotics after

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 is still being discussed. In the public health sector it is used as an example of the viruses potential power, if we do not continue to prepare, educate the public and vaccinate on a global scale. Let’s think back to that time were science and technology was not as advanced. Quarantine and isolation measures meant little to no travel, remaining home and less time spent in the public, “diagnosing influenza became even more difficult because an especially virulent form of the disease had erupted” (Untied States Department of Health and Human Services, 2015).

During the course of human history, pandemic diseases have threatened the balance of civilization itself. Viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other infectious agents have

Dominique Robert’s (2008) theoretical framework in the article “Prison and/as Public Health. Prison and Inmates as Vectors of Health in the New Public Health Era. The Case of Canadian Penitentiaries” focuses on structural elements that explain the use of correctional health care in the prison setting today and how this plays a role in the broader public health strategies in the outside community. He does this by explaining factors such as “the mobilisation of prison as a tool for the new public health” and "the production of inmates into healthcare ‘consumers’, along with the role of actuarial justice.”

Humanity, we as a whole are all aware and cautious about obvious illnesses and viruses that spread and how to avoid catching it with the right hygiene, flu shots, health care, etc, but how do we know we won't face a deadly pandemic like the one's humanity has faced throughout history and the 1918 pandemic. These viruses move around and adapt to any living thing it can find off of. Virus pandemics have left a huge amount of people dead and ill fro symptoms they faced from a small virus that started and spread in military camps in the US. Back then no one had acquired and immunity and care compared to our medicine and flu shots against almost every known virus that can be caught. We as a society are so careless when it comes to these things,

Public health strategies and interventions have changed drastically over time. Bloodletting is one of the most ancient forms of medical interventions. It originated in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece, persisting through the Medieval, Renaissance, and Enlightenment periods (PBS). Doctors used the bloodletting method for every ailment imaginable; from pneumonia, bone fractures, and even wounds, bloodletting was as trusted and popular as aspirin is today.

Since the beginning, humanity has overcome diseases that could potentially wipe out the human race. From earliest forms diseases such as measles to modern day pandemics such as AIDS, mankind has survived throughout history. Though diseases have plagued society it was only after the outbreak of the HIV virus in 1981 that brought to attention the dangers of incurable diseases. Before this time, with World War I and II, and the Cold War, public fear was based on the potential chance of a nuclear destruction of the planet. Since the outbreak of the HIV in 1981, public anxiety has been displaced from nuclear winter to that of microbial plagues. The enemy was now no longer a visible foe but that of an unknown contagion with no knowable cure. Recently in 2009, with the outbreak of the Swine Flu (H1N1) Virus public alert of the dangers of contagions increased. Science Fiction films since the outbreak of HIV have reflected the public fear of the unknown and unbeatable contagions. Films such as Outbreak (1995), Contagion (2011) and the recent World War Z (2013) have shown audiences a creative window of possible outcomes of an epidemic and what man would do in order to stop the

The main point of the reading is to show the evolution of medicine and healthcare. As a result from researching HeLa, scientists were able to contribute to the development of vaccines and cures to disease. Some examples of these discoveries are the polio vaccine, HPV vaccine, and different links of cancer to other illnesses. In addition to these discovers, regulations and standards were implemented in health policies. These contributions to medicine lengthened overall life expectancy and improved public health.

The 21st Century has seen the healthcare system struggle with challenges such as an increase in chronic conditions, an increase in government spending on public health, and emerging threats such as global health security and antibiotic resistance. On the positive side, more people have gained access to care. To deal with these emerging issues as well as existing challenges, we need an effective public health workforce. The public health has the role of protecting the health of citizens. This could be through health promotion and lobbying for increased access to care. To address the problem of the rise in chronic ailments, public health has a role of creating awareness on chronic conditions, their symptoms and management. This is because these conditions are expensive to treat and drain the resources of patients and their families. Public health should therefore educate the public on the importance of screening and conduct these screening services for early diagnosis and prevention of chronic diseases. Another role of public health in the 21st Century is to provide and use evidence based practice in providing clinical services. This would help in addressing some of the emerging challenges such as antibiotic resistance.

The world has experienced a total of four pandemics within the twentieth century. These pandemics, as horrific and deadly as they are, have brought so much more positive advances to our health care system and how we prepare for biological threats. Although we are in the twenty-first century and we have advanced so far in healthcare, there is still the possibility of a deadly pandemic.