Three Major Developments That Have Changed Health In The 19th Century

In the 19th Century the world was a very different place, many beliefs and opinions were a lot different to those we speak of in this present age. Diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera and other infectious diseases claimed a lot of lives. This essay will cover three major developments that have occurred; Life style changes, The Establishment of the NHS and finally; surgery and anaesthetics and how they have changed health in society for us today.
There are a lot of factors which played a role in this health epidemic and many which have helped turned health in society into a much safer and healthy environment. Major lifestyle changes have been a key role in helping change Britain for being well known for its bad smells and poor hygiene to
It is caused by the consumption of contaminated food or water causing an acute infection in the gut, however if left untreated can lead to rapid dehydration. (World Health Organization, 2014) This was very common back in the 19th Century due to lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitation, as well as this people from that time were unaware of the dangers of not properly washing your food or washing your hand before you handle food. Due to the lack of knowledge and information this epidemic was allowed to kill many people. During the years since then we have developed a great understanding about how important it is to have clean running water to be able to wash our food before it is prepared and wash our hands. John Snow played a major role in the eradication of Cholera, he published The Mode of Communication in 1849, he was able to confirm his theory in the 1854 crisis following a large amount of deaths in one particular location. Eventually he was able to pin point the exact water pump which was causing the problems and removed the handle , consequently the disease started to die out. (Archived, 2013) However there were other issues such as alcohol and other substances which were becoming a