scholarly journals Patterns of smallpox mortality in London, England, over three centuries

PLoS Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. e3000506
Author(s):  
Olga Krylova ◽  
David J. D. Earn
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Spectral Analysis ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Control

Smallpox is unique among infectious diseases in the degree to which it devastated human populations, its long history of control interventions, and the fact that it has been successfully eradicated. Mortality from smallpox in London, England was carefully documented, weekly, for nearly 300 years, providing a rare and valuable source for the study of ecology and evolution of infectious disease. We describe and analyze smallpox mortality in London from 1664 to 1930. We digitized the weekly records published in the London Bills of Mortality (LBoM) and the Registrar General’s Weekly Returns (RGWRs). We annotated the resulting time series with a sequence of historical events that might have influenced smallpox dynamics in London. We present a spectral analysis that reveals how periodicities in reported smallpox mortality changed over decades and centuries; many of these changes in epidemic patterns are correlated with changes in control interventions and public health policies. We also examine how the seasonality of reported smallpox mortality changed from the 17th to 20th centuries in London.

scholarly journals Patterns of smallpox mortality in London, England, over three centuries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Krylova ◽  
David J.D. Earn
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Spectral Analysis ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Control

AbstractSmallpox is unique among infectious diseases in the degree to which it devasted human populations, its long history of control interventions, and the fact that it has been successfully eradicated. Mortality from smallpox in London, England, was carefully documented, weekly, for nearly 300 years, providing a rare and valuable source for the study of ecology and evolution of infectious disease. We describe and analyze smallpox mortality in London from 1664 to 1930. We digitized the weekly records published in the London Bills of Mortality and the Registrar General’s Weekly Returns. We annotated the resulting time series with a sequence of historical events that appear to have influenced smallpox dynamics in London. We present a spectral analysis that reveals how periodicities in smallpox dynamics changed over decades and centuries, and how these changes were related to control interventions and public health policy changes. We also examine how the seasonality of smallpox epidemics changed from the 17th to 20th centuries in London.

Epidemiological surveillance and performance assessment: the two roles of health indicators during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-203
Author(s):  
Nathan Genicot
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Performance Assessment ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Epidemiological Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The One ◽  
Massive Development

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to the massive development and use of health indicators. Drawing on the history of international public health and of the management of infectious disease, this paper attempts to show that the normative power acquired by metrics during the pandemic can be understood in light of two rationales: epidemiological surveillance and performance assessment. On the one hand, indicators are established to evaluate and rank countries’ responses to the outbreak; on the other, the evolution of indicators has a direct influence on the content of public health policies. Although quantitative data are an absolute necessity for coping with such disasters, it is critical to bear in mind the inherent partiality and precarity of the information provided by health indicators. Given the growing importance of normative quantitative devices during the pandemic, and assuming that their influence is unlikely to decrease in the future, they call for close scrutiny.

scholarly journals Vietnamese Public Health Practices in the Advent of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons for Developing Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 163-164
Author(s):  
Jeconiah Louis Dreisbach
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Short Communication ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
World Health ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) presents a great challenge to developing countries with limited access to public health measures in grassroots communities. The World Health Organization lauded the Vietnamese government for its proactive and steady investment in health facilities that mitigate the risk of the infectious disease in Vietnam. This short communication presents cases that could benchmark public health policies in developing countries.

Addiction and Heroin-Assisted Treatment: Legal Discourse and Drug Reform

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Boyd ◽  
Alexa Norton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Drug Research ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Heroin Addiction ◽  
Care Society ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Drug Prohibition

This article analyzes the arguments put forth over a 3-day period at an injunction hearing, Providence Health Care Society v. Canada, held March 13–15, 2014 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The plaintiffs sought broad interlocutory relief from the Court for the provision of prescription heroin if requested by their physicians. This article fills an identified gap in scholarship by analyzing the civil Charter challenge, including the notice of civil claim, injunction court transcripts, judgment, and individual plaintiffs’ affidavits. We draw from Canada’s unique history of drug prohibition and critical drug research to contextualize our analysis and findings. We argue that the lives of people using criminalized drugs, such as heroin, are affected by legal realms that produce ideas about heroin, addiction, and criminality that ultimately impact public health policies and treatment initiatives.

History of Infectious Diseases

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Maria Ines Zanoli Sato
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Emerging Pathogens ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
History Of

This chapter provides a review of infectious disease to date and the challenges they may present in the future. The main pandemics that have driven the history of humanity are described, from the first to be recorded in 3180 BC to more recent ones such as AIDIS, SARS and others associated with emerging pathogens. The essential role of emerging scientific specialisms (particularly microbiology, public health and sanitary engineering) to our understanding of the causes of these diseases (and how they may be better monitored, controlled and prevented) is presented. Globalization and climate change, determining factors for the ecology of infectious diseases and their emergence and re-emergence, are discussed and point to the urgent need for research to deal with these threats that continue to have a significant impact on human development and wellbeing.

scholarly journals Can public health policies on alcohol and tobacco reduce a cancer epidemic? Australia's experience

BMC Medicine ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heng Jiang ◽  
Michael Livingston ◽  
Robin Room ◽  
Yong Gan ◽  
Dallas English ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Head And Neck ◽  
Cancer Mortality ◽  
Tobacco Consumption ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The 1960S

Abstract Background Although long-term alcohol and tobacco use have widely been recognised as important risk factors for cancer, the impacts of alcohol and tobacco health policies on cancer mortality have not been examined in previous studies. This study aims to estimate the association of key alcohol and tobacco policy or events in Australia with changes in overall and five specific types of cancer mortality between the 1950s and 2013. Methods Annual population-based time-series data between 1911 and 2013 on per capita alcohol and tobacco consumption and head and neck (lip, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx and oesophagus), lung, breast, colorectum and anus, liver and total cancer mortality data from the 1950s to 2013 were collected from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Cancer Council Victoria, the WHO Cancer Mortality Database and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The policies with significant relations to changes in alcohol and tobacco consumption were identified in an initial model. Intervention dummies with estimated lags were then developed based on these key alcohol and tobacco policies and events and inserted into time-series models to estimate the relation of the particular policy changes with cancer mortality. Results Liquor licence liberalisation in the 1960s was significantly associated with increases in the level of population drinking and thereafter of male cancer mortality. The introduction of random breath testing programs in Australia after 1976 was associated with a reduction in population drinking and thereafter in cancer mortality for both men and women. Meanwhile, the release of UK and US public health reports on tobacco in 1962 and 1964 and the ban on cigarette ads on TV and radio in 1976 were found to have been associated with a reduction in Australian tobacco consumption and thereafter a reduction in mortality from all cancer types except liver cancer. Policy changes on alcohol and tobacco during the 1960s–1980s were associated with greater changes for men than for women, particularly for head and neck, lung and colorectum cancer sites. Conclusion This study provides evidence that some changes to public health policies in Australia in the twentieth century were related to the changes in the population consumption of alcohol and tobacco, and in subsequent mortality from various cancers over the following 20 years.

scholarly journals Psicologia e políticas públicas: desafios para superação de práticas normativas / Psychology and puclib policies: challenges to overcoming normative practices

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Andrade Ferrazza
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social History ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Psychiatric Reform ◽  
History Of ◽  
Normative Practices ◽  
History Approach ◽  
Psychological Knowledge

ResumoO presente trabalho tem o objetivo de estudar a história daconstituição de um saber psicológico normativo e da reflexão sobre a inserção da psicologia no âmbito da Saúde Coletiva, com destaque a alguns pontos norteadores para a profissão no sentido de garantir a formação de profissionais com um perfil condizente para atuação no âmbito das Políticas Públicas de Saúde. Será adotado o enfoque histórico social inspirado na perspectiva genealógica foucaultiana na tentativa de propor transformações atuais de discursos e práticas. Na atualidade, algumas práticas psi vinculadas às concepções individualistas e normativas, historicamente influenciadas pelo movimento higienista, poderiam constituir novos tipos de subjetividadesdespolitizadas. Assim, conclui-se que os indivíduos deixariam de implicar-se em suas próprias condições de sujeitos devido o reducionismo aos discursos psicopatologizantes, regradospor concepções que guardam pouca ou nenhuma relação com a promoção de saúde e as propostas dos projetos brasileiros de Reforma Sanitária e Psiquiátrica.Palavras-chave: Psicologia normativa; Políticas Públicas de Saúde; Reforma Sanitária e Psiquiátrica.AbstractThis article studies the history of the constitution of normative psychological knowledge and offers reflection on the role of psychology within Social Health. We foreground variousguidelines for the profession to ensure the training of professionals towards an apposite profile for practice in accordance with Public Health Policies. We adopt a social history approach informed by a Foucauldian genealogical perspective in our attempt to propose actual transformations to discourses and practices. Currently, some of the psy practices related toindividualist and normative conceptions - historically influenced by the hygienist movement - could constitute new types of depoliticized subjectivities. Thus, we posit that individuals willno longer involve themselves in their own conditions assubjects due to reductionist psychopathologizing discourses which are regulated by concepts that bear little or no relationto the promotion of health and the Brazilian Health and Psychiatric Reform project.Keywords: Normative Psychology; Public Health Policies; Health and Psychiatric Reform.

Vaccination in the Early PRC, 1949–58

2019 ◽  
pp. 123-143
Author(s):  
Mary Augusta Brazelton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Bubonic Plague ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Military Campaigns ◽  
New Nation ◽  
Vaccination Campaigns

This chapter focuses on vaccination in the early years of the People's Republic of China. The 1949 establishment of the PRC formally ended the conflicts that had engulfed China for almost twenty years. However, the new nation was still in crisis. The People's Liberation Army continued to wage military campaigns in Tibet and Xinjiang, war loomed in Korea, and infectious diseases still threatened the country's population. In 1949, bubonic plague struck Tianjin and Beijing, and in the following year smallpox broke out in Shanghai. The establishment of national vaccination campaigns, first against smallpox in 1950 and then against tuberculosis, diphtheria, and other diseases in 1952, signaled a national commitment of the new regime to epidemic prevention. Such an achievement was possible, this chapter argues, because new systems of recordkeeping, surveillance, and accountability accompanied the implementation of public health policies. These programs built power over life by self-consciously protecting it from epidemic catastrophe.

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