Ch 3 Annotations

Berridge, Virginia. Public Health: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, Oxford,

2016.

Berridge places an importance on understanding how public health was developed as a result of the beginning of modernization, and the concern for military and economic needs. The purpose of this chapter is to understand that concern for the health of communities began with some of the earliest civilizations while the needs and concerns of the communities is what has changed over the years. The work of Hippocrates is what initiated widespread recognition for what public health consists of. Focusing on the individual eventually led to also observing the environment and attempting to make changes to both, acknowledging a correlation between environment and illness. It is important to note how countries modeled their public health tactics after other countries, as well as the increase in disease due to the agricultural shift and traveling that grew into the 18^th century.

            Understanding the economic, social, and political history of the 18^th century is what allows readers to better understand the evolution of public health and the various motives for interventions. This also helps understand what it is so difficult to define public health as well as to better grasp how and why public health has so many branches. By providing background information on what provoked the government to begin getting involved with health concerns, Berridge is displaying the hardships of public health development. This is a hurdle that public health officials continue to experience as there are often times when local organizations are left to tackle issues alone or with little support. It is not until the economy or military is threatened that the government decides to take action, as seen when the bubonic plague took over European countries. The devastating results of the bubonic plague provoked other countries to begin intervention programs for things such as STDs.

            With this beginning concern for the health of individuals came the increasing desire for research to gather statistics on disease rates. Being able to identify the disease also became important as well as attempting to find a cure. Berridge directs the readers to focus on the motives of government involvement as well as the history of the time certain diseases were spreading in order to better understand the various changes to the definition of public health.