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54
SECTION III
PREVALENCE OF, AND CONTROL OVER, INFECTIOUS
AND OTHER DISEASES
Public health, as we know it today, had its origins in the middle
1800's when Chadwick confirmed a connection between material
environment and health and, moreover, was successful in getting
this fact officially accepted. Principles then established are still
tenable. But, whereas, for very practical reasons Chadwick had to
concentrate upon material and physical aspects, nowadays, as
advances in scientific fields bring more profound knowledge and
fuller comprehension, both health and environment are now being
seen as a mosaic of physical, mental and social problems.
Until recently, epidemiology, being a basic constituent of
Chadwick's 'sanitary idea', suffered from a similar 'narrowness' of
concept but, today, it is moving from its former artificial confines to
broader realms covering the occurrence and distribution of all
diseases.
Without in any way minimising the rightful importance of
infectious disease and its control in the health of the community,
it is clearly evident that non-communicable diseases such as bronchitis,
diabetes, arthritis and rheumatic complaints are assuming
relatively greater prominence in the sphere of public health and that
heart conditions, non-bacterial pneumonias and cancers are providing,
in this modern age, a challenge as great or even greater than
plague and smallpox in the earlier years.
Although, fundamentally, the health of a nation is centred
around the physician, the efficiency of a country's health services is
also dependent upon many supporting personnel. Days of the
single-handed doctor providing complete medical care for his
patients are gone and those of the research worker attempting to
solve, in isolation, complicated biochemical problems are numbered,
for the emphasis is now on 'team' effort. As the community, the
family and the individual all suffer the consequences of disease,
'teams' are not limited merely to members of the health professions
but include educators, economists, engineers, etc., all of whom
contribute to prosperity and welfare and stimulate a demand for
'positive' health in its widest sense.
A pre-requisite for the successful planning of prevention,
treatment and control of disease is reliable epidemiological knowledge.
A perceptive Chinese proverb which runs 'If you are planning
for a year ahead, low rice; for ten years, plant trees; for a hundred
years, educate the people' not only gives in precise form the very