Chapter 6 Annotations

Berridge, Virginia. (2016). Public Health: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, United Kingdom. Retrieved from Oxford University Press.

The public health issues that arise when categorized in a low socioeconomic class is a common theme throughout Berridge’s book. This chapter focuses on the underdeveloped tropic regions before World War I. The differences between public health in Europe and public health in the tropical regions was the scientific developments in cartography, taxonomy, and geography that allowed Europe to look at different biological variants and changes. These developments allowed Europeans to explore not only biological variants within Europe, but also expand to other areas as they explored new destinations as well; leading to new public health concerns. New virus outbreaks were happening such as small pox, and vaccinations were administered by the British to parts of India. While this was a great progression in the public health field, most Indians were not reached by the vaccination for two reasons. One was that many Indians believed in different forms of medicine stemming from their traditions and culture. The other reason for lack of vaccinations within India, was because priority for vaccinations when to those in higher statuses rather than those living in low socioeconomic statuses. Between World War I and World War II the medicine within these tropical areas really evolved and grew. After the second war, health planning and public health crisis management became extremely important because of all of the spread of diseases through refugees and the travels of militaries during war times. Primary health care became a focus, advocating that people seek out medical professional help for health issues. This time was one of public health reform and a time of testing new methods. I could use this in my research to show how the history of public health reform can be a good thing and should be considered for acceptance by communities today.