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= Public Health and Infrastructure =
= Public Health and Infrastructure =
Four or five hundred years ago, Europe was a very different place. There was very little scientific knowledge about the world, and people did not understand why they got sick or how to get well. There was no electricity, no gas, very little plumbing or organized sewage disposal. Europe was very poor. As a result, Europeans had many of the same health problems which are found all over the world in poor areas today. Europeans built up their infrastructure over a long period of time, several hundred years.
One very important historical event is the story of John Snow and the Broad Street Pump. This happened in London in about 150 years ago, in 1854. London was in the middle of an outbreak of [[cholera]]. At the time, Europeans did not know what caused cholera. People saw that a lot of people were getting sick and dying, and they ran away to other places hoping they would not get sick too. One man, a doctor called John Snow, watched who was getting sick very carefully. He made a map and put a mark on the map for each person who had got sick and died.
This map showed a very important pattern that had not been seen by anybody before John Snow. It showed that the people who were within walking distance of a water pump (or a well) on Broad Street were the ones getting sick. From this fact, and from the fact that people who lived in the area but got their water from another source did not get sick, John Snow discovered two things: cholera was spread from drinking water, and the water from the well on Broad Street carried the disease.
When the authorities took the handle off the pump at the well so nobody could drink from it, the cholera outbreak slowed down a lot. The well turns out to be very close to a sewer pipe which had been leaking germs into the water and making people sick. The well was closed, and the link between infrastructure and disease was now proven.
As a result of John Snow and the Broad Street Pump, people in London and later around the world came to understand that their health and well-being rests on their infrastructure sometimes. People got together and asked for good wells and good sewage systems so that they and their families could stay healthy. It took many years for this work to be completed, but people in Europe, America and other wealthy areas of the world very rarely get sick from bad water or sewage any more, although it does happen sometimes.

Revision as of 13:04, 15 August 2007

working on this page tonight - drop me a line if you want to take pages and it's not done yet.

--Vinay Gupta 14:49, 14 August 2007 (PDT)

What is "Public Health"

Public health is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. Health is defined and promoted differently by many organizations. The World Health Organization, the United Nations body that sets standards and provides global surveillance of disease, defines health as: "A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Public health experts agree this definition is incomplete. Other components included in an individual's health are nutritional, spiritual, and intellectual.

The population in question can be as small as a handful of people or as large as all the inhabitants of several continents (for instance, in the case of a pandemic). Public health has many sub-fields, but is typically divided into the categories of epidemiology, biostatistics and health services. Environmental, social and behavioral health, and occupational health, are also important fields in public health.

An alternative definition by Winslow from Modern Medicine in 1920 is: "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organised efforts and informed choices of society, organisations, public and private, communities and individuals."

In some ways, public health is a modern concept, although it has roots in antiquity. From the early beginnings of human civilization, it was recognized that polluted water and lack of proper waste disposal may spread vector-borne diseases. Early religions attempted to regulate behavior that specifically related to health, from types of food eaten, to the extent which certain behaviors could be indulged, such as drinking alcohol or sexual relations. The establishment of governments placed responsibility on leaders to develop public health policies and programs to gain some understanding of the causes of disease to ensure stability, prosperity, and maintain order.

Public Health and Infrastructure

Four or five hundred years ago, Europe was a very different place. There was very little scientific knowledge about the world, and people did not understand why they got sick or how to get well. There was no electricity, no gas, very little plumbing or organized sewage disposal. Europe was very poor. As a result, Europeans had many of the same health problems which are found all over the world in poor areas today. Europeans built up their infrastructure over a long period of time, several hundred years.

One very important historical event is the story of John Snow and the Broad Street Pump. This happened in London in about 150 years ago, in 1854. London was in the middle of an outbreak of cholera. At the time, Europeans did not know what caused cholera. People saw that a lot of people were getting sick and dying, and they ran away to other places hoping they would not get sick too. One man, a doctor called John Snow, watched who was getting sick very carefully. He made a map and put a mark on the map for each person who had got sick and died.

This map showed a very important pattern that had not been seen by anybody before John Snow. It showed that the people who were within walking distance of a water pump (or a well) on Broad Street were the ones getting sick. From this fact, and from the fact that people who lived in the area but got their water from another source did not get sick, John Snow discovered two things: cholera was spread from drinking water, and the water from the well on Broad Street carried the disease.

When the authorities took the handle off the pump at the well so nobody could drink from it, the cholera outbreak slowed down a lot. The well turns out to be very close to a sewer pipe which had been leaking germs into the water and making people sick. The well was closed, and the link between infrastructure and disease was now proven.

As a result of John Snow and the Broad Street Pump, people in London and later around the world came to understand that their health and well-being rests on their infrastructure sometimes. People got together and asked for good wells and good sewage systems so that they and their families could stay healthy. It took many years for this work to be completed, but people in Europe, America and other wealthy areas of the world very rarely get sick from bad water or sewage any more, although it does happen sometimes.

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