Assignment: Term Paper on the History of Public Health

History of Public Health in the Global Context: Charles-Edward A. Winslow, American public health leader, defined Public Health as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical health and efficiency through organized community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control of community infections, the education of the individual in principles of personal hygiene, the organization of medical and nursing service for the early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of the social machinery which will ensure to every individual in the community a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health." (1920). This definition provided a base for the present WHO definition of health – “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Paleopathology or the study of fossils has revealed that early humans, who were essentially hunter and gatherers, suffered from similar diseases that humans suffer from today. To identify, treat and prevent occurrences of such illnesses, they created a class of “shamans” – people who were trained to intervene at the spiritual and physical level. During those times, people believed in the supernatural forces and attributed diseases to the same. However, with the establishment of cities and subsequent drainage systems in early Rome, the idea of supernatural forces causing disease was replaced by Hippocrates’ idea of the relation of disease to human beings’ physical, social and behavioural settings. For example, malarial fever was linked to stagnant swamp water. He published his novel ideas in his book called “On Airs, Waters, Places” in the 5th century B.C. An excerpt from his book is as follows: “Whoever wishes to investigate medicine properly, should proceed thus: in the first place to consider the seasons of the year, and what effects each of them produces. We must also consider the qualities of the waters and the mode in which the inhabitants live, and what are their pursuits, whether they are fond of drinking and eating to excess, and given to indolence, or are fond of exercise and labour, and not given to excess in eating and drinking.” Most of the doctors during the ancient times were from the higher strata of society. There was inequality in access to health care. Malaria and tuberculosis were the most common diseases in