HIST 249 Lecture 11: Lecture 11 - History of Public Health
25 Oct 2018
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Document Summary
Public health: when societies actively organize to protect against health dangers to a population. Protecting the public from dangerous practices and behaviours. Tried to centralize the power within the territories. Rise of state administrations that took responsibility for the health of their citizens. The strength of the nation depended on the size of its population. Power of the state = size of the population (mercantilism, cameralism) Mercantilism = maximization of the trade of the nation. Cameralism = management of the state"s finances (economy of certain state"s finances (economy of certain states/territories/countries) Calculated the economic less of premature death and calculated how much the state could benefit of having a larger population. Doctors and lay people became concerned with the well being of the whole population or specific groups (soldiers, women, children) rather than with individual patients. A part of this concern manifested itself in voluntary hospitals and dispensaries for health care.
