Mervyn Susser and Zena Stein
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195300666
- eISBN:
- 9780199863754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300666.003.0009
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
This chapter discusses the historical development of a national public health system. Under the 1848 Public Health Act, Edwin Chadwick succeeded in setting up under his own direction the first ...
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This chapter discusses the historical development of a national public health system. Under the 1848 Public Health Act, Edwin Chadwick succeeded in setting up under his own direction the first General Board of Health. In the early 19th century, the sustained contempt for medicine he manifested was not difficult to justify; he looked instead to engineering for technical support. Medical practice was then entirely unregulated, excepting the mild self-regulation of their members by academic bodies, the Royal College of Physicians and, later, the Royal Colleges of Surgeons and of Obstetrics and Gynecology. It was near mid-century before professional organizations had formed and assumed the power to set standards for themselves, and later still before John Simon himself established training for public health professionals.Less
This chapter discusses the historical development of a national public health system. Under the 1848 Public Health Act, Edwin Chadwick succeeded in setting up under his own direction the first General Board of Health. In the early 19th century, the sustained contempt for medicine he manifested was not difficult to justify; he looked instead to engineering for technical support. Medical practice was then entirely unregulated, excepting the mild self-regulation of their members by academic bodies, the Royal College of Physicians and, later, the Royal Colleges of Surgeons and of Obstetrics and Gynecology. It was near mid-century before professional organizations had formed and assumed the power to set standards for themselves, and later still before John Simon himself established training for public health professionals.
