Public Health Essay

19th century
John snow was a leading British physician of the Victorian era. He is also one of the founders of modern epidemiology as he identified the source of the cholera outbreak in his work in 1854. His study considered the means of how diseases spread and contradicting the principal of the miasma theory which was then recognised as the germ theory after Snow’s death.
Cholera outbreaks happened a lot in London because of the impurities and over crowdedness and because of this it gave Snow a chance to further his theory that cholera could be spread by contaminated food or water in 1854. He wrote down the location of deaths that occurred Snow managed to show that those who died because of cholera were clustered around one main water pump in Broad Street.
Edwin Chadwick believed in using science to improve the social and public health in 1832 and was asked to serve a royal commission to investigate the effectiveness of the Poor Laws, a system which as placed in 1601 by social security. As he was investigating living in poor conditions, he became interested in sanitation amongst poor communities. Chadwick believed that is hygiene, cleanliness and ventilation were improved, and then diseases wouldn’t occur as much.
Cholera first appeared in 1831, followed by in 1837 and 1838 by epidemics of influenza and typhoid, encouraging the government to ask Chadwick to carry out a new investigation into sanitation. In his publication, The Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population in 1842, Chadwick used many methods to show that there was a direct link between poor living conditions, diseases and life expectancy. He also made many enemies and in 1854 he was forced to retire from the public service; however he continued to further his talents on the research to various initiations for improvement such as the London Metropolitan Commission of Sewers.
The Sanitary Movement 1866 – John Simon was a physician by training, but he is most famous for his dramatic reforms of London’s public health system, which set the standards for the 19th century city’s sanitation and health measures. Of the public health era’s, Simons is generally regarded as one of the most influential work.
John became London City’s first medical officer of health in 1848 and in that capacity issued annual reports that led directly to the Sanitary Act of 1866. This landmark legislation formed the backdrop for the industrial hygiene policy and created the first obligatory, universal and science based public health law. Simon helped transform the issue about public health from a political platform to one tooted in scientific investigation and analysis. His reports also provided motivation for the Public health Act of 1875, which established an inclusive sanitary code that evolved and lasted for a century.
Among Simon's other accomplishments while working for the central government were his implementation of building inspections, his development of methods to make the water supply cleaner and sewers more effective, his elimination of drains, and his conception of a set of procedures to follow for outbreaks of contagious diseases. He stepped down from his government post in 1876.
The First Public Health Act 1848
The government's hand was probably forced somewhat by the 1847-48 cholera epidemics, which possibly also contributed to the Kennington Common Chartist demonstration. The legislating followed the publication of Edwin Chadwick's Sanitary Report in 1842.
The 1848 Public Health Act is 150 years old. Its context, origins, content, and compromises are extensively reviewed in this issue by Hamlin and Sheard. It was an exercise in effective politics, technically remarkably well informed, yet also an imaginative legislative attempt to deal with some still very current issues. How can the best technical public health competence be created in both the essential aspects of the public health discipline—knowledge and action? How can this technical competence be

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