1. History and objectives of public health

• History
  • Early public health interventions
    • Romans diverted human waste from urban areas
    • During 14th century’s Black Death, the value of quarantine was discovered
  • Hippocrates: the food we eat, the place we live, the life we live affects our health
  • John Snow:
    • Founder of epidemiology (topic 14).
    • He also challenged the miasma theory (that disease is caused by “bad air” (miasma))
  • Percival Pott: Chimney sweepers develop SCC
  • Edward Jenner: First vaccine (smallpox)
  • Germ theory:
    • Developed slowly
    • John Snow’s work helped replacing the miasma theory with the germ theory
    • Koch’s postulates
      • The germ must be found in all diseased organisms
      • The germ must be isolated and grown in culture
      • The germ should cause disease in healthy organisms
      • The germ must be re-isolated from diseased experiment hosts and confirmed to be the same as the original germ
  • 1980: Smallpox eradicated
• Objectives of public health
  • Assess and monitor health of communities and populations at risk for disease
  • Formulate health policies designed to solve health problems
  • Assure that the populations have access to cost-effective and appropriate care
  • Perform health promotion and disease prevention