public health in britain in the 19th century
Public Health Hannah Veseli Before the 1848 Public Health Act the provision of public health was extremely limited and disorganized, due to the lack of money as well as no central control. ... In addition there was also the case of vested interests, which in effect blocked the development of the public health reform. ... At the time there was a great belief that government intervention in matters concerning public health would prove a threat to the rights and liberties of the british people, and the Leeds Mercury was quoted as saying ‘Heaklth reform would be a permament infringement of the githts of municipal bodies and through them of the people at large.’ This direction of thought was very popular, as was the idea of non- conformisn, which comprised of a string belief with the notion of self-help, with the idea that by helping the poor with the issues of health and sanitation, they would not learn how to take responsibility for their own lives. ... However between 1848 and 1858 there had been a gradual acceptance for the need of public health, and it was in the 1858 act that the General Board of Health was abolished, indisputably due to the link with Chadwick, whose presence was seen as being counter-productive.