The Golden Age of Public Health (1880 1970)

1. Mohammad Aslam Shaiekh
MPH – 3rd Batch
School of Health and Allied Sciences (SHAS)
Pokhara University (P.U)
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2. Background(1880-1970 AD)
 Succeeded the age of liberalism
 High Infant Mortality Rate, poor health condition of women as
well as that of workers began to command attention in a way
that they had not done previously.
 Armies of Britain attributed to the problem to a vast range of
causes: poor nutrition(coupled with lack of sunlight in smoky
cities), bad sanitation, bad mothering and bad heredity
 Epidemic of small pox following the Franco-Prussian war and
in the 1890s disclosed the gaps in vaccination program.
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3. 1880-1970 AD
 For long, people had very different views regarding the
causation of disease. The breakthrough came in 1860
when the French bacteriologist, Louis Pasteur,
demonstrated the presence of bacteria in air.
 In 1873, he advanced the “germ theory of disease”.
 In 1877, Robert Koch showed that anthrax was caused
by a bacteria.
Discoveries of Pasteur and Koch confirmed the germ
theory of disease.
 “Golden age of Bacteriology”
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4. 1880-1970 AD
Microbe after microbe was discovered in quick
succession:
 Gonococcus in 1847
 Typhoid bacillus, Pneumococcus in 1880
 Tubercle bacillus in 1882, Vibrio cholerae in 1883,
Diphtheria bacillus in 1884, etc.
 In 1896, Bruce (a British Army Surgeon) demonstrated
that the African Sleeping Sickness was transmitted by
tsetse fly.
 In 1898, Ross demonstrated that malaria was transmitted
by the Anopheles mosquito.
 In 1900, Walter Reed and his colleagues demonstrated that
Yellow fever was transmitted by the Aedes mosquito.
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5. 1880-1970 AD
 After the germ theory came into existence, attention was
focused on microbes and their role in disease causation.
With the knowledge derived from bacteriology, it became
possible to control disease by specific measures such as
blocking the channels of transmission, e.g., quarantine,
water purification, pasteurization of milk, protection of
foods, proper disposal of sewage, destruction of insects and
disinfection.
 Development of serological tests helped to identify prior
infection.
 Public Health was identified as a distinct division of
medicine and most of the developed countries solidified a
reasonably complete network of municipal and regional
Public Health Officers.
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6. 1880-1970 AD
 State took the responsibility of people’s health.
 C.E.A. Winslow, in 1920, defined Public Health as “the
science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and
promoting health and efficiency through organized
community effort”.
 The 20th century has seen a dramatic expansion of the
scientific basis for medicine and Public Health.
Immunology, Microbiology, Pharmacology, Toxicology
and epidemiology have provided tools and resulted in
improved health status of populations.
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7. 1880-1970 AD
 Dramatic scientific innovations brought vaccines and
antibiotics which along with improved nutrition and
living standards, helped to control infectious disease
as the major cause of death.
 Practice of eugenics (Emergence of science of heredity
to the improvement of human population)
 Emergence of Nutritional and Agricultural science
 Effect of food on health, role of different vitamins
 Establishment of WHO on 7th April, 1948
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8. 1880-1970 AD
Three new fears of the developed world:
The invisible germs of disease, which might come through
the most casual contact
The mysterious genes in their gonads
The peculiar set of trace nutrients that their food might
not contain
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9. Summary
 Age stunned by scientific and technical achievement
 Improved Public Health with emphasis on exercise, diet,
hygiene and contraception
 Decline in morbidity and mortality rates/increase in life
expectancy
(In 1880, the average life expectancy in New York City and
Brooklyn was 36 years; by 1920 life expectancy had
increased to 53 years, an increase of 47% in 40 years
period)
 Remarkable achievement in the field of Disease control ,
Health promotion and Social engineering
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10. Reference
 Oxford Text Book of Public Health, Volume I
 Park’s Text Book of Preventive and Social
Medicine(24th Edition)
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11. The floor is open for discussion.
Please join me.
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12. Healthy Life for Happy Life !
Thank You!!
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