Public Health Act

What caused overcrowding?

Many people from the countryside moved to cities for jobs.

What was the impact of overcrowding?

• Poor living conditions

  • Houses were cramped together

  • Poor ventilation

  • Hygiene wasn’t recognised - people didn’t understand the importance of clean water and sewafe systems.

  • Water pumps - were shared between many houses and was often contamined

When did Cholera epidemics happened?

1832

How many people died from Cholera yearly?

Over 21,000

How is Cholera spread?

Water infected with human waste from sewages.

How did people contaminated water?

• Threw corpses in rivers - it would eventually get to sewages

• They would wash dirty clothes in rivers

• Rubbish was thrown in the river

What are the symptoms of Cholera?

• Diarrhoea

• Dehydration

• Vomiting

What was believed to cause Cholera?

Miasma

Who published ‘Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain’ in 1842?

Edwin Chadwick

Chadwick’s report

• Showed that living conditions in towns were worse for poeple’s health than conditions in the countryside

• Suggested that the government should pass low for proper drainage and sewerage systems, founded by local taxes.

• The report and the 1848 Cholera epidemic pressured the Parliament to pass a Public Health Act

Why did the 1848 Public Health Act fail?

It wasn’t compulsory

When was the seconf Public Health Act?

1875

Who was John Snow?

The doctor who discovered Cholera was a waterborne disease

How did John Snow dicover Cholera was waterborne?

• He interviewed people in Broad Street (an area of epidemic) and made a map of the area where cases of the disease had been

• The investigation showed that all victims used the same water pump on Broad Street

• He convied the local council to remove the pump and this ended the epidemic

• It was later discovered that a nearby cesspit had a split lining -its waste had lacked into the pump’s water supply.

What was the impact of this discovery?

• After Germ Theory the theory became accepted

• Helped people to change attitude about Public Health

• Pushed the government to get involved in public health, leading to the Public Health Act 1875

When was the Great Stink?

1858

What caused the Great Stink?

• Many waste ended up in sewages, which would eventually be drained into the Thames.

• In the summer, hot weather caused the water level to drop and bacteria to grow in waste which caused a large smell.

What was the impact of this?

Pushed the governement to renew the sewage system

What were the changes in public attitude?

• Evidence from Chadwick, Snow, and Germ Theory showed the importance of hygiene

• The Second Reform Act (1867) gave more than 1 million men (most being workers) the right to vote

  • The people pushed the government to pay more attention to the poorer areas and public health.

What did the 1875 Public Health Act improve?

• Benjamin Disraeli’s goverment passed a compulsory act

• Made councils appoint health inspectors and sanitary inspectors

• Mainatain sewarage systems and clean streets

• Disraeli improved slums in 1875