Melegrito, Genesis Joseph M.

Samia, Criselda P.
Samia, Francis W.
Tiongco, Jilmer

Historical Development of Health Education

I. Ancient Period

A. Egyptian Health Practices (from Primitive to 1000 BC)

 A prominent historian Herodotus narrated that ancient Egyptians made sure to clean their cups,
glasses and plates used for food and drink.
 They washed their clothes
 They used mint to make their breath fresh
 They invented the first deodorant by mixing various spices such as citrus and cinnamon
 They took great care of their skin and have used natural oils and herbs to make cream
 Saints shaved their hair to ensure infections do not harm them
 They managed to create different body perfumes made from flowers, roots, herbs and other
natural elements
 Egyptian women were amongst the earliest to introduce make up
 First to introduce toothbrush and toothpaste 5,000 years ago

B. Hebrew Health Code (from 1500 BC to 500 BC)

At the time of the great Hebrew exodus from Egypt under Moses the Bible records an incredible
promise given to him by God. Moses recorded it as follows:

 "If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in His eyes , if you pay attention
to His commands and keep all His decrees, I will not bring on any of the diseases I brought on the
Egyptians, for I am the Lord,who heals you." (Exodus 15:26, NIV)
 "The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days. That one shall
purify himself from uncleanness with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and
then he will be clean." (Numbers 19:11-12)
 "Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your
equipment have something to dig with, and whom you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up
your excrement." (Deuteronomy 23:12-13, NIV)
 "Say to the Israelites: ' Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats." (Leviticus 7:23, NIV).
Medical science has proved the correlation between heart disease and diets high in animal fat.

C. Greek Approach to Health (1000 BC to 200 BC)

The Greek word hygiene meant "sound, healthy, or strong" and was possibly related to the Sanskrit
ugias or strength

C1. Hippocrates
  Father of Medicine
 Created high standard of ethics: "The Hippocratic Oath" used by physicians today
 Developed organized method to observe human body
 Recorded signs and symptoms
 He said that hygiene was the branch of medicine dedicated to the art of health

C2. Aristotle

 Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322 B.C., had learned medical theory and some anatomy
from his father, who was a practicing physician, or iatros, as Greek doctors were called, in his
homeland of Macedonia.
 Disected animals
 Founder of what is known today as anatomy
 Aristotle grounded his medical and anatomical work in the philosophical approach known as
teleology, nature with a purpose. In anatomy this meant that everything was in the human
body because it was supposed to be there.

D. Romans

D1. The Aromas of Rome

 In reading about ancient practices, it is important to put away preconceived notions. Did urban
centers like ancient Rome stink? Certainly, but so do modern cities, and who's to say whether
the smell of diesel exhaust is any less overwhelming than the smell of Roman urns for collecting
urine for the fullers (dry cleaners)? Soap is not the be-all and end-all of cleanliness. Bidets are
not so common in the modern world that we can afford to scoff at ancient hygiene practices.

D2. Access to Toilets

 According to O.F. Robinson's "Ancient Rome: City Planning and Administration," there were 144
public latrines in Rome in the later Empire, most of which were located next to the public baths
where they could share water and sewerage. There may have been a token payment if they were
separate from the baths, and they were likely comfortable places, where one might sit and read,
or otherwise "amuse oneself sociably," hoping for dinner invitations.
 Public urinals consisted of buckets, called dolia curta. The contents of those buckets were
regularly collected and sold to the fullers for cleaning wool, etc. The fullers paid a tax to the
collectors, called a Urine Tax, and the collectors had public contracts and could be fined if they
were late with their deliveries.

D3. Access to Hygiene Facilities for the Rich

 In "Readings from The Visible Past," Michael Grant suggests that hygiene in the Roman World
was limited to those who could afford the public baths or thermae, as running water did not
reach the poor's tenements from the aqueducts. The rich and famous, from the emperor on
 down, enjoyed running water in palaces and mansions from lead pipes connected to the
aqueducts.
 At Pompeii, however, all the houses except the very poorest had water pipes fitted with taps,
and the wastewater was piped away into a sewer or trench. People without running water
relieved themselves in chamber pots or commodes which were emptied into vats located under
the staircases and then emptied into cesspools throughout the city.

D4. Access to Hygiene Facilities for the Poor

 Florence Dupont, in "Daily Life in Ancient Rome," writes that it was for reasons of ritual that the
Romans washed frequently. Throughout the countryside, Romans, including women and slaves,
would wash every day and would have a thorough bath on every feast day if not more often. At
Rome itself, baths were taken daily.

D5. Hair Care in Ancient Rome

 Romans were materially interested in being considered non-hairy; the Roman aesthetic was of
cleanness, and, for practical purposes, hair removal reduces one's susceptibility to lice. Ovid's
advice on grooming includes hair removal, and not just men's beards, although it is not always
clear whether that was accomplished by shaving, plucking or other depilatory practices.
 The Roman historian Suetonius reported that Julius Caesar was meticulous in hair removal. He
didn't want hair anywhere except where he didn't have it—the crown of his head, as he was
famous for the combover.

II. Medieval period (400 AD - 1450 AD)

The book Airs, Waters, and Places, most probably written by the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-377
b.c.) around the same time, noted a potential relationship between pestilence and environment. It
provided the earliest theoretical constructs explaining the differences and causes of endemic (pertaining
to a particular region) and epidemic (pertaining to large numbers of people) disease. It would only be
supplanted by modern views of bacteriology and immunology.

Across the English Channel, a set of "sanitary laws" were put into use in England in 1388 by Richard
II(1367-1400). They made use of observation stations, isolation hospitals, and disinfecting procedures.
Major changes were made to improve sanitation, including the development of pure water supplies,
garbage and sewage disposal, and food inspection.

 In order for people to be protected, they build fortresses around their property and animals
 Overcrowding and sanitation
 Little emphasis on cleanliness in early Christianity
 Public health encompasses many aspects of disease prevention, but it has its roots in the
prevention of communicable diseases.
  It is a science as well as an art, and has the goals of averting disease in order to prolong life and
promote physical and mental well being.
 These goals are accomplished through various means such as medical and sanitary services,
personal hygiene, control of infection, and organization of health services
 Personal hygiene practices have been utilized by most primitive societies, often in association
with religious rituals
 There were many sanitary regulations to follow, some of which dictated the preparation of food
 The Middle Ages are often cited as a time where there was little concern for personal hygiene
and health education
 Attempts were made to increase the levels of health education and personal hygiene.
 While these practices bear little resemblance to modern day principles, they had the effect of
improving the standard of living for people at that time and perhaps more importantly, these
reforms provided the basis on which the modern public health system is built.

III. Renaissance Period (1450 AD -1700 AD )

A. Public Health

 Towns in the renaissance were similar to towns of Middle Ages.

 Towns and Cities were filfhy, rubbish and human waste being thrown out into the streets.

B. Medicine in the Renaissance

Treatments

 Methods of diagnosis and treatments in the renaissance did not really change from the time of
the Middle Ages.
 People still believed in the Theory of Four Humours, and "doctor" prescribed herbal medicines
as opposites.
 Doctor were unable to cure infectious diseased and were powerless in treating diseases such as
the plague and syphilis.
 some nee drugs were developed (such as a drug for malaria) but those treatments were a
mixture of superstition and errors.

C. "The King's evil or Scrofula"

 "Scrofula" is a tuberculosis of the neck

 People believed thar the king or queen of England or France could cure the disease simply by
touching the sufferer.
 Between 1660 and 1682 Charles II Touched even 92,000 people.

D. "The Bezoar Stone"

 "Bezoar" comes from the persian language and it literally means "prtection from Poison"
 In the 1500s Pare actually proved that the bezoar stone isnt an effective treatment for poison in
an experiment with a chef
IV. The Age of Enlightenment (1750-1850)

The Age of Enlightenment (of the Age of Reason) is the term used to describe the time of European
cultural change in the 18th century.

 During the Age of Enlightenment experimentation and furthering scientific study were held in
high regard. This had both positive and negative effects on medicine.
 On the one hand, experimentation is what furthers common medical knowledge and gives
doctors a wider array of wisdom to draw from. On the other, it was typically fashionable for
physicians to upgrade their social status by becoming more scientific in their practices.
 During the Age of Enlightenment the health field was filled with self-trained surgeons,
apothecaries, midwives, and drug peddlers.
 They common school of thought became that optimal health was a person’s natural state and so
disease could and would be wiped out completely.

1800's (Bacteria period of public health)

 Louis Pasteur-Germ Theory of Disease

 Joseph Lister-Antiseptic Method
 Health Education and Promotion in the United States
 1850 first mandate to teach physiology and hygiene in all public schools

REFERENCES

Roman Baths and Hygiene in Ancient Rome. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/hygiene-in-

ancient-rome-and-baths-119136

Webster, Gary. (2015, August 18). Ancient Health. Retrieved from

https://www.hopechannel.com/au/read/ancient-health

Atef, Rana. (2017, December 4). Ancient Egypt vs. Daily Hiegine Habits. Retrieved from
http://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/35325/Ancient-Egypt-vs-Daily-hygiene-habits

(2014). Revise RGSE. History, Medicine, Through Time: Renaissance Treatment and Public Health.
Retrieved from https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t61uirWN2pI

(2001). Public Health in the Middle Ages. Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of
Scientific Discovery. Retrieved from https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-
transcripts-and-maps/public-health-middle-ages

(2019). Health in the Middle Ages. Retrieved from http://m.lordsandladies.org/health-in-the-middle-

ages.htm

(2019). Enlightenment. Retrieved from https://www.google.com.ph/url?

sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjwtu6clP_gAhXk_XMBHUECAQQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A
%2F%2Fsurgeonsandbutchers.wordpress.com%2F2015%2F02%2F25%2Fage-of-enlightenment-impact-of-
medical-practices%2F&psig=AOvVaw3YSscdVXvz1mvlL4P3iG_e&ust=1552567887928342