ABOZ, RHONALYN L.

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IMPORTANT EVENTS IN PUBLIC HEALTH

 Earliest Civilizations

o Ancient Societies

 In the book of Leviticus which can be seen in the bible, is believed

to be the first written health code which includes guidance for

personal hygiene, sexual health behaviors and sanitation

(SouthEast Public Health Training Center, 2012).

 In Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, and Peruvian Coastal, where early

settlements are formed, it is assumed to be plague by tropical

diseases such as malaria and schistomiasis (Johnson, Johnson III

& Morrow, 2013).

 In the first civilizations, cultural beliefs coexisted with practical

knowledge of herbal medicines, management of wounds and even

removal of “evil spirits. With this the advent of writing led to medical

documentation as part of the code of Hammurabi (Tulchinsky &

Varavikova, 2014).

 Before eighteenth century, epidemic disease was first seen as a

sign of poor moral and spiritual condition but in due time, some

public effort was made to contain the spread of the specific disease

through isolation (Institute of Medicine, 1988).

o Classical Cultures

 Between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, ancient Greek

understanding about health was still all more often about mysticism
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until; the emergence of Hippocrates and the Hipocratic tradition or

Oath which is still pledged by physicians today (Johnson, Johnson

III & Morrow, 2013).

 During this period, Greeks and Romans were active in terms of

community sanitation and even building aqueducts to protect their

water supply. This is also the era where they created hospitals and

infirmaries (SPHTC, 2012).

 Middle Ages

o The Spiritual Era of Public Health was between 500 to 1000 CE, a time

where there were issues about the growing revulsion for Roman

Materialism and the growth for spiritually. Health problems were

considered to be caused and to be fixed by spirituality (McKenzie, Pinger,

& Seabert, 2016).

o Most physicians in Europe were monks and their medical documents were

mostly from ancient scriptures (Tulchinsky & Varavikova, 2014).

o Leprosy became widespread in Europe which particularly affected the

poor. Isolation was the typical procedure for people who have leprosy.

There were 2000 cases in France alone and this disease has caused

massive suffering all throughout Europe (Tulchinsky & Varavikova, 2014).

o In this era there were too many failure in terms of handling physical and

biological conditions which caused some of the deadliest epidemics in the

world such as the Black Death (McKenzie, Pinger, & Seabert, 2016).

According to Institute of Health (1988), Black Death, mainly

ABOZ, RHONALYN L.
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pneumonic.and bubonic plague is due to Yersinia pestis infection which

can be transmitted by fleas on rodents. The plague ravaged most of

Europe killing between 24 to 50 million people, approximately one-third of

the population.

 Renaissance

o During this era, there was a rebirth of knowledge about nature and

humans. Different explorations and discoveries about health lead to

advances in occupational health (SPHTC, 2012)

o The first solid use of data collection for the purpose of health science

came from “the father of demography and descriptive epidemiology”, John

Graunt. He was also the first one to developed the first life table using his

data about mortality (SPHTC,2012).

 Eighteenth Century

o By this time, isolation and quarantine of the exposed have been a

common measure for containing specific diseases. Bu the end of it,

several col states in the United Sates had already established council that

will control and enforce quarantine and isolation protocols (Institute of

Medicine, 1988).

o Disease of Workers by Bernardino Ramazzini was a monumental piece

about application of epidemiological principles in workplace and

highlighting specific health hazard (Tulchinsky & Varavikova, 2014).

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o During this Era, Edward Jenner initiated one of the most dramatically

successful attempt in public health which is the first vaccine to prevent

small pox (Tulchinsky & Varavikova, 2014).

 Nineteenth Century

o Aside from. Epidemics, public health issue was constantly being terrorized

by the constant presence of tuberculosis which was the leading caused of

death in the United States (Johnson, Johnson III & Morrow, 2013).

o Dr. John Snow decided to study cholera when London was struck with

another epidemic. He hypothesized that the drinking water from the Broad

Street Pump was the cause of the disease. Due to his discovery, it helped

suppress the widespread of cholera in London (McKenzie, Pinger, &

Seabert, 2016).

o In the late nineteenth century, bacteriology entered the wide knowledge

about public health. One of the major contributor to this is , Louis Pasteur,

which proved that anthrax is caused by a bacteria. Bacteriology helped in

the identification of different bacterias and the development of

immunizations and water purification (Institute of Medicine, 1988).

 Twentieth Century

o Over the next decades, there were a tremendous information of about

public health which was due to world explorations and discoveries of

scientist. With this there are improvements on sanitation, water

purification, nutrition, containment of disease and immunization. Life

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expectancy rose by more than 30 years due to this (Tulchinsky &

Varavikova, 2014).

o Alexander Flemming, a Scottish physician unexpectedly discovered

Penicilin while studying moulds in 1928. This is one of the most important

discoveries of the twentieth century because of its ability to kill bacteria

and fight infectious diseases (SPHTC, 2012).

o Different Organizations were establish such as Center for Disease Control

and Prevention (CDC) on 1946 and World Health Organization (WHO)

the United Nations on 1948. (SPHTC, 2012).

o One of the biggest hurdles of. The 20th century was the emergence of

HIV/AIDS. There. Is an estimated 30 million HIV-related deaths and many

interventions have been used to continually slow the spread of HIV.

 21st Century/Present

o A highly contagious coronavirus or SARS-CoV, is caused by Severe

Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which first appeared in China in the

year 2002 (SPHTC, 2012).

o Coronavirus Disease 2019 or commonly known as COVID-19 was. An

epidemic that started in Wuhan, China on February 26, 2019. Due to the

speed and scale of mode of transmission the World Health Organization

declared it as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. It is known to be

transmitted human to human by respiratory droplet, close contact with the

exposed and possibly by fecal-oral and aerosol contact. Currently different

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vaccines have been made as a preventive measure beside. Wearing

mask and hand washing (dos Santos, 2020).

References

dos Santos, W. G. (2020). Natural history of COVID-19 and current knowledge on

treatment therapeutic options. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 129. Published.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2020.110493

Institute of Medicine. (1988). The Future of Public Health. In Chapter 3: History of the

Public Health System(1st ed., pp. 14–44).

Johnson, J., Johnson III, J. A., & Morrow, C. (2013). Novick & Morrow’s Public Health

Administration: Principles for Population-Based Management. In Historical

Events in Public Health and the 21st Century(3rd ed., pp. 11–24).

McKenzie, J. F., Pinger, R. R., & Seabert, D. (2016). An Introduction to Community &

Public Health. In Chapter 1: Community and Public Health (9th ed., pp. 2–22).

SouthEast Public Health Training Center. (2012). Public Health History Timeline.

Retrieved August 10, 2021, from http://sphtc.org/timeline/timeline.html

Tulchinsky, T. H., & Varavikova, E. A. (2014). A History of Public Health. The New

Public Health, 1–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-415766-8.00001-x