In this assignment I will compare the 19th, 20th and 21st century in relation to the main public health strategies.
It will also compare the differences and the similarities of the living conditions in cities and towns in these periods of time. In the 19th century the living conditions caused a lot of deaths. This was for the reason that wellbeing was very bad and people experienced numerous health problems such as deprived and overfull housing that was the root of rapid spread of illnesses, pollution and poor surroundings as people were unaware to the reasons and cost of the pollution and poor sewage system which brought about awful pong that was intolerable for living. In addition, the bad law scheme in the 19th century, this scheme was put in place to take care of the under privileged mentioned above, such as the lower class people.
Moreover in the 19th century, there was an episode of cholera outbreak which claimed so many lives.The cholera incident that was killing people turned into a curiosity for Dr John Snow (1813-1858). He completed many studies and he finally established that in his study a particular water supply that was coming from the contaminated River Thames was the cause of the outbreak. In Beveridge’s report in the 20th century, it assisted to bring a change to the educational standards in the areas that were highly affected by poverty. The Beveridge report assured that all working people be required to pay weekly contributions, those contributions were used as benefits by the government to pay people who were widowed, sick, unemployed or retired. The benefits aided the under fortunate to meet some of their basic requirements that were not possible for them in the 19th century. The National Health Service came into effectiveness by Clement Attlee’s, who was one of the members of the Labour Government due to the outcome of Snow’s report.
With the 21st century, the public health was drastically changed compared to the 19th and 20th century. This was because the public health white paper, choosing health: making healthy choices easier, (2004) was introduced as the alertness of health was rising in amount which required the government to bring about the public health white paper.This document encouraged societal fairness, dealing with broad causes of ill-health, inequality in the society as well as recognizing individual’s requirements to help and empower them. In the 21th century, people are more knowledgeable as technology and science have enhanced, making better medical system more efficient and effective with more improved living conditions, measured up to the two previous centuries. The comparisons between the 19th, 20th and 21st Century was that famous personalities mentioned above intended to improve the health of the public over time.
They all did many studies and research to bring about helpful results. In the 21st, there was the Health Protection Agency, an independent organisation that focuses on protecting individuals’ health all through the UK. There is also the National Institute for Clinical Excellency also an independent organisation; their responsibility is to give national guidance and handling of ill-health which has improved the living standard, condition and a huge improvement of health in the wider UK population. In conclusion before public health came into effect, living conditions were very bad causing early death.Also there was also discrimination as the wealthy could afford to live in better areas, good education and to pay for high-quality medical treatment. The unfortunate were left with no option other than to live one day at a time.
In the 20th and 21st century, there were so many schemes used to advance wellbeing and inequality. However in the 21th century, there were more strategies implemented to improve public health which were set out in a document and had three foundation values. All these was put together to improve, protect and empower the lives of individuals in the UK population.
