Policy and practice relating to ‘old public health’ and Australia’s health status

What is public health and 'old public health'?

Public health is the ways in which governments monitor, regulate and promote health status and prevent disease.

Old public health are government actions that focused on changing the physical environment to prevent the spread of disease, such as providing safe water, sanitation and sewage disposal, improved nutrition, improved housing conditions and better work conditions.

‘Old Public Health’

At the beginning of the twentieth century:

the living conditions for many people in Australia were very poor
access to clean water and sanitation facilities were minimal
little was known about good hygiene practices
waste littered the streets, attracting huge numbers of rats and mice, which carried disease.
overcrowded and poor-quality housing was common
the quality and safety of food was poor
working conditions were dangerous
infectious diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, measles, smallpox, diphtheria, tuberculosis and whooping cough were prevalent and accounted for much of the death and disability at this time.
children were particularly at risk and infectious diseases were responsible for high rates of infant and child mortality.

'Old Public Health'

Because of all of this, pressure was placed on governments to take action to improve people’s health. As a result, a range of policies and practices were introduced by governments that became known as the old public health.

These policies and practices played a significant role in reducing the prevalence of infectious and parasitic diseases, respiratory diseases and injuries that were prevalent during the first half of the twentieth century. As a result, significant improvements occurred in life expectancy, maternal and child mortality and overall death rates.

The discovery of vaccines

Great gains were made with the discovery of vaccines, which helped to treat a range of infectious diseases.

Vaccines helped bring huge reductions in morbidity and mortality from diseases such as smallpox, polio, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tuberculosis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella and hepatitis B.

The Australian government introduced public health policies that resulted in mass vaccinations in the 1930s for diphtheria, 1939 for tuberculosis, the 1950s for pertussis, tetanus and poliomyelitis, and the 1960s for measles.

The success of vaccinations as a public health measure has resulted in the global elimination of smallpox, with polio eradicated from most parts of the world

‘Life. Be in it.’ was one of the first health promotion campaigns designed to bring about behaviour change.

Shift to Health Promotion

Health promotion - the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health

As life expectancy increased and people were living longer, the patterns of disease and illness started to change. The emergence of lifestyle diseases during the 1950s and 60s required a different approach to public health. It was during this time that a shift towards the implementation of publicly funded health promotion campaigns occurred.

These were designed to bring about individual behavior change by making people aware of the causes of ill health such as tobacco smoking, physical inactivity, poor diet and excessive alcohol consumption. It was believed that people would make positive changes to their behaviour if they were aware of the effects their behaviour would have on their health and wellbeing.

Page updated

Report abuse