Progression Of Public Health

This essay will summarize the history and progression of public health. It will explore mechanisms of public health, and how these have been, or could be, achieved will be discussed throughout. Public health has seen many changes since its creation, influenced by both ideas, and science, all with goal of improving the health of communities (Porter, 2004). The institution of public health and the common understanding of the phrase have occurred throughout history; many health problems and their impact on the wider community have been recorded. Many of these problems are communicable diseases which relate to poor environments, inadequate drinking water, poor food quality or intake, and overall lack of good medical care. Over time interventions

For example, the Cadbury family developed the Bourneville village, with areas of parks and recreation to improve their workers well-being (Tolman, 1901). Many philanthropists were of strong religious persuasion and may have felt to their Christian duty to ensure the wellbeing of the less affluent; whilst others may have felt that if workers benefitted from better health due to their improved working conditions, the employer benefitted too from increased productivity; yet such initiatives did improve public health at the time. The major determinants for health from the nineteenth century were identified as nutrition, public hygiene and contraception (McKeown 1976). With the public health measures such as sanitation, drinking water and housing being implemented over several decades, culminating in the Great Public Health Act 1875 and the factors of nutrition and contraception, change began to be

It is certainly a shifting area of health which tries to respond changes in culture and the needs of society in general. In history religious practice was the foundation of many health initiatives, which implies an element of control. However, the underlying premise of public health from the nineteenth century onwards appears to be economically focussed if one considers the various motives for measures, for example the need for healthy men to serve in the armed forces, a fit to work force etcetera, although again this could also be considered a form of