3.1 Impetus for public health reforms Flashcards
What was the population growth as a result of the Industrial Revolution?
grew from 13 million to over 31 million between 1781 and 1871, and by 1939 it was nearly 48 million
Industrialisation impact on towns and cities
it created work in factories, mills and foundries, and people flocked into the rapidly growing towns and cities to take advantage of new job opportunities, which forced many to crowd together, living in substandard housing with little supply of clean water or adequate sanitation
when was the most rapid population increased in Britain?
1811 and 1841
Why did death rate fall during industrialisation?
- vaccine for smallpox
- agriculture producing higher quality food in high quantity
- textile industry produced cotton cloth that was cheap and easy to buy
Birth rate rose due to
- lower death rate means more people grew up to have babies
- more babies living in adulthood meant that their generation would have more babies
Marriage rate rose due to
- farmers didn’t have live-in servants, so it was easier for men and women to start a life
- earlier marriages before contraception meant more babies
how did the distribution of population change?
in 1801, only 33% of the population lived in towns, and was increased to 50% in 1851 and 72% in 1891
-by 1900 4/5 British citizens were urban dwellers
when was civil registration introduced?
1837
what did civil registration do?
there was civil registration of births, death and marriages, which revealed a young, fertile and actively reproducing population in most urban centres
could have pressured the government into implementing reforms to tackle overcrowding problems
epidemics of cholera, smallpox and scarlet fever were recorded and their rate and geographical distribution were analysed by statisticians and used by those pushing for reform in public health
why did urban growth cause public health problems?
the rate of urban growth was too fast
How much did the population grow between 1800 and 1871?
775 thousand to around 3000 thousand
How did population growth affect living conditions?
the influx of people led to a catastrophic effect on existing housing and sanitation provision, resulting in ‘filth diseases’ like typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera
How did Industrial Revolution exacerbate housing problems?
Bad housing had always been a problem in medieval London, but IR led to widespread, dense overcrowding
As a result of overcrowding, what did urban communities do to the existing ‘living’ spaces?
They used them up and adapted them to build new dwellings
What were cellars and attics used as?
used as workspaces by working people and their families
Due to industrial revolution, where did working class people live close to?
close to factories and mills with polluted air due to the lack of public transport
Where did the middle class live during IR
they moved out from the industrialising cities
What did most housing in the 19th century lack?
drainage, sewerage and regular water supply
How was human waste treated?
they were collected in cesspits and collected by ‘night-soil men’ and sold to farmers
Even with flushing in middle-class houses, what happened to the waste?
still had to be physically emptied
Was water supply available/ accessible?
no, it was in short supply and was expensive, water supply was usually controlled by vested interests (private water companies)
Where did water companies get water from?
either from underground reservoirs, or from local rivers
Middle-class people would have water piped to their house, how did the poorer people obtain water?
they would queue to buy water when the water company turned on the supply, but most of the time, people were too poor to even buy water so they would just take water from local streams or rivers
In the first half of the 19th century, what did overcrowding lead to? (before Germ Theory)
the growing numbers of epidemics and disease
What disease did the overcrowding issue in houses with lack of water supply cause?
Typhus fever, there were two outbreaks in 1837 and 1839 and in 1847, the outbreak killed 10,000 people in Northwest England
What were some diseases that caused a lot of deaths?
Influenza, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, typhoid
How many cholera epidemics were there and when did they happen?
4, 1831-32, 1848-49, 1853-54 and 1866
How many deaths did the first cholera epidemic result in?
31,000
How many deaths did the second cholera epidemic result in?
62,000
in the 19th century, which two were the main theories of causes of disease?
miasma and germ theory
What is miasma theory?
the idea that diseases are caused by bad air, they thought that miasma, a poisonous gas, was spreading disease through the air
Why did the miasma theory made sense to the people?
since industrialisation led to filthy, foul-smelling areas in more cities, and it was these areas that had to highest rates of death due to epidemics and disease
How did people solve public health problems during industrialisation based on the miasma theory?
clean cities up, improve housing and sanitation
Who developed microscropes?
Joseph Lister in 1830
Who developed the germ theory first?
Louis Pasteur in 1860
What was Pasteur’s Germ Theory?
that micro-organisms exist in the air and were not created by decaying materials, and that different micro-organisms can can cause disease in humans
Did people accept Pasteur’s Germ Theory?
no, many still believed in miasma theory
Which other scientists was able to prove the Germ Theory?
Robert Koch in later 19th century, where he and his team were able to prove that germs caused disease