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Abstract
The lives of today's elderly population have deep historical precedents by which we can better understand current social policies, health care, and retirement. The history of old age in America is more complex and varied than most people realize. This history has been shaped largely by the search for economic security. In the agricultural economy of preindustrial America, few individuals saved sufficient resources for their declining years, and most elderly people either continued to work or lived in dependent poverty. More than any other factor, the lack of family members willing or able to provide for an elderly relative resulted in the relative moving to the dreaded poorhouse. Passage of Medicare and Medicaid legislation resulted in the rapid development of commercial nursing homes, accelerating the trend away from nonprofit and government facilities. However, serious deficiencies in care have continued to occur, prompting additional federal legislation. Knowledge of the history of aging in America can provide a useful touchstone: it can expose past problems that could happen again, identify what is worth preserving from the past, and help us avoid relearning painful lessons.
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202
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Abstract
Noma (necrotizing ulcerative stomatitis, stomatitis gangrenosa, or cancrum oris) is a devastating orofacial gangrene that occurs mainly among children. The disease has a global yearly incidence of 140,000 cases and a mortality rate of approximately 90 percent. Patients who survive noma generally suffer from its sequelae, including serious facial disfigurement, trismus, oral incontinence, and speech problems. The medical history of noma indicates that the disease was already known in classical and medieval civilizations in Europe. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Dutch chirurgeons clearly described noma as a clinical entity and realized that the popular name "water canker" was not sufficient, because this quickly spreading ulceration in the faces of children was different from "cancer." In the eighteenth century, awareness that noma is related to poverty, malnutrition, and preceding diseases such as measles increased in northwestern Europe. In the first half of the nineteenth century, extensive surgical procedures were described for the treatment of the sequelae of noma. At the end of that century, noma gradually disappeared in the Western world because of economic progress, which gave the poorest in society the opportunity to feed their children sufficiently. Only in the twentieth century were effective drugs (sulfonamides and penicillin) against noma developed, as well as adequate surgical treatment for the sequelae of noma. These modes of treatment remain inaccessible for the many present-day victims of noma because of their extreme poverty. The only truly effective approach to the problem of noma throughout the world is prevention, namely, combating the extreme poverty with measures that lead to economic progress. In the meantime, medical doctors in the Western world should not forget their own history and ignore this global health problem; rather, they should face "the face of poverty" with the eyes of mercy and concern suited to their profession.
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203
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Mccalman J, Morley R. Mothers' health and babies' weights: the biology of poverty at the Melbourne Lying-in Hospital, 1857-83. SOCIAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE 2003; 16:39-56. [PMID: 14598815 DOI: 10.1093/shm/16.1.39] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Birth weight remains a major focus of medical research into the relationship between pre-natal growth and life course health, and historians have used mean birth weight to assess women's standard of living. However, there are intrinsic difficulties in inferring maternal health and nutritional status from birth weight, and some of the known data sets produce puzzling results. One rich data set comes from the Melbourne Lying-in Hospital, 1857-83, and the article discusses the complex institutional, social, and economic causes that may underlie its apparently counter-intuitive anthropometric results. This data set reveals the biological effects differential social conditions can inflict, even within an otherwise affluent society.
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204
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Ketabgian T. "Melancholy mad elephants": Affect and the animal machine in Hard times. VICTORIAN STUDIES 2003; 45:649-676. [PMID: 15049318] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
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205
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Marks HM. Epidemiologists explain pellagra: gender, race, and political economy in the work of Edgar Sydenstricker. JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND ALLIED SCIENCES 2003; 58:34-55. [PMID: 12680009 DOI: 10.1093/jhmas/58.1.34] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Between 1900 and 1940, at least 100,000 individuals in the southern United States died of pellagra, a dietary deficiency disease. Although half of these pellagra victims were African-American and more than two-thirds were women, contemporary observers paid little attention to these gender and racial differences in their analyses of disease. This article reviews the classic epidemiological studies of Joseph Goldberger and Edgar Sydenstricker, who argued that pellagra was deeply rooted in the political economy of cotton monoculture in the South. The methods that Sydenstricker brought to epidemiology from early work on political economy obscured the role of gender inequalities in pellagra, and his focus on economic underdevelopment led him to ignore the prominent role of African-Americans as pellagra's principal victims. Research methods and traditions, no less than more overt ideologies, played a role in maintaining the subordinate social position of women and African-Americans in the southern United States.
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206
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Gerabek WE. [The Wurzburg professor of physiology and medical offer for the poor Johann Joseph Dömling (1771-1803) - an almost forgotten pioneer of the romantic medicine]. WURZBURGER MEDIZINHISTORISCHE MITTEILUNGEN 2003; 22:21-9. [PMID: 15637789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/01/2023]
Abstract
Johan Joseph Dömling (1771-1803), professor of physiology and medical officer for the poor at Wurzburg, was born in a Franconian village near to Königshofen. For a while, he supported a mechanistic oriented physiology and rejected the Romantic medicine. In his early works he polemicized vehmently against the natural philosophy and anthropology of Schelling. About the year 1802, Dömling changed sides and so he even paved the way for Schelling and his successful activities at Wurzburg (1803-1806) as a pioneer of the Romantic medicine in Germany. Dömling's early death gave rise to speculations, rumours and intrigues so that finally Philipp Joseph Horsch, the physician of Dömling, was accused of having murdered him. Franz Berg, professor of theology at Wurzburg, was the creator of that rumours. Berg supported enlightened philosophical concepts, and so he was strongly opposed to Schelling and Horsch. A well-grounded scientific study about Dömling's life and work is up to now a desideratum of the research in medical history.
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207
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Thawnghmung AM. The socio-economic impacts of rice policies implementation in rural Burma/Myanmar. SOJOURN (SINGAPORE) 2003; 18:299-321. [PMID: 21894632 DOI: 10.1355/sj18-2f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
This paper, focusing on two rice-farming villages where the Burmese government has experimented with a variety of agricultural programmes, explores the problems associated with rice implementation processes. In particular it looks at the basic structure and operation of agricultural administration — salary and income of government officials, the predominance of military officers in civilian ministries and departments, the creation of departments with overlapping responsibilities, and the hierarchical structure of the Agricultural Ministry — and highlight their limitations. It provides another aspect to evaluating the roots of poverty among average rice farmers.
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208
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209
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Breidablik HJ. ["Bread from stone and spiritual uplift for illiterates"--paternalistic community health promotion 200 years ago]. TIDSSKRIFT FOR DEN NORSKE LEGEFORENING 2002; 122:2879-82. [PMID: 12569713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Some of the early pioneers of community health promotion in Norway were clergymen. One of these "potato priests", as they often are referred to, was the Rev. Niels G.A. Dahl (1778-1852) in Gulen, a poor rural district in western Norway. In a spirit of paternalism he engaged in many non-religious activities promoting the lives and health of his congregation. He engaged in vaccination, medical treatment, control of infectious diseases and provision for the poor, hired a midwife, struggled hard against heavy liquor drinking among locals and promoted primary education. This article highlights Dahl's contributions to community health promotion. Effective community health promotion depends on local knowledge, as well as local authority, influence and personal engagement. Maybe a dose of the paternalistic spirit is called for also in today's health promotion?
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210
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Cook GC. Thomas Southwood Smith FRCP (1788-1861): leading exponent of diseases of poverty and pioneer of sanitary reform in the mid-nineteenth century. JOURNAL OF MEDICAL BIOGRAPHY 2002; 10:194-205. [PMID: 12389045 DOI: 10.1177/096777200201000403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
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211
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Beale GM. Treating Ulster's rural poor: the county infirmaries of Armagh and Down 1766-1851. THE ULSTER MEDICAL JOURNAL 2002; 71:111-20. [PMID: 12513007 PMCID: PMC2475306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Abstract
This paper considers the role of county infirmaries in providing health care for the inhabitants of two counties in south-east Ulster. It traces the establishment and management of these institutions from their beginnings shortly after the passing of the Infirmaries Act (1765) to the middle of the nineteenth century. From the available evidence, the accommodation, staff, patient numbers and diet of the infirmaries are considered and an assessment of their efficacy in offering a valuable service to their communities is discussed.
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212
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Ottini L, Mariani-Costantini R, Costantini AM. [Malnutrition in XIXth century Naples]. MEDICINA NEI SECOLI 2002; 13:93-114. [PMID: 12362938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/26/2023]
Abstract
In the second half of the XIXth century, after the unification of Italy, researches and enquiries that had the objective of investigating links between malnutrition and disease were promoted in the city of Naples, the former Capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The philosophy underlying these scientific efforts, devoted to the benefit of the lower classes of the population, derived from the famous enquiry into the conditions of the Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples, promoted by the enlightened government of Joachim Murat in 1811. By necessity, the researchers had to address, with the methodological limits of the period, the complex interactions among social, environmental, medical, hygienic and physiologic factors, attempting to enucleate strategies of prevention and of active intervention. The works of Achille Spatuzzi, Luigi Somma, Errico De Renzi and Luigi Manfredi, demonstrated the persistence of poverty and malnutrition among the lower classes of the Neapolitan population and had the merit of being among the first in explicitly recognizing the association between inadequate dietary intake, relative to the needs of the organism, and major diseases, such as rickets, tuberculosis, and anemias.
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213
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Dürrigl MA, Dürrigl T, Fatović-Ferencić S. [Poverty, illness, prayer--thoughts on contemplating the votive painting of St. Notburga]. Wien Med Wochenschr 2002; 152:159-60. [PMID: 11998566 DOI: 10.1046/j.1563-258x.2002.01074.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
A votive painting in the chapel of St. Donatus in Pavlovec (northern Croatia) from the 18th century depicts St Notburga of Eben with two paupers, a shepherd and an invalid. Although generally venerated as patron-saint of peasants and maids, Notburga seems to have captured the imagination of the anonymous painter as the helper of the poor and underprivileged. The vicious circle of poverty and disease is evoked by this painting, as well as the popular belief in divine assistance by supplication to patron saints.
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214
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Sabin LE. Rose Hawthorne Lathrop. Servant of the dying poor. J Christ Nurs 2002; 19:24-7. [PMID: 11908047 DOI: 10.1097/01.cnj.0000262207.87053.26] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
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215
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Anbinder T. From famine to Five Points: Lord Lansdowne's Irish tenants encounter North America's most notorious slum. THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW 2002; 107:351-387. [PMID: 12051257 DOI: 10.1086/532290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
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216
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Reber VB. Poor, ill, and sometimes abandoned: tubercular children in Buenos Aires, 1880-1920. JOURNAL OF FAMILY HISTORY 2002; 27:128-149. [PMID: 12004899 DOI: 10.1177/036319900202700204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Ill children with chronic diseases, such as tuberculosis, have faced difficult lives. Poverty proved a factor in their susceptibility to disease, their abandonment, and their treatment. When public health policies in Buenos Aires shifted from ignoring children to viewing them as victims who needed protection, government agencies, charitable organizations, public schools, and hospitals developed special programs that emphasized both prevention and cure of childhood tuberculosis. Argentine physicians and hygienists supported programs that were similar to those in Europe and the United States. Despite efforts, from 1880 to 1920, diagnosis of tuberculosis remained problematic, health professionals failed to prevent tuberculosis in children, and physicians were unable to cure the disease.
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217
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Orford S, Dorling D, Mitchell R, Shaw M, Smith GD. Life and death of the people of London: a historical GIS of Charles Booth's inquiry. Health Place 2002; 8:25-35. [PMID: 11852261 DOI: 10.1016/s1353-8292(01)00033-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Social reformer Charles Booth undertook a massive survey into the social and economic conditions of the people of London at the end of the 19th century. An important innovation of his Inquiry was the construction of large, detailed maps displaying social class of inner London on a street-by-street basis. These provide a detailed and vivid picture of the geography of poverty and affluence at this time. These maps have been digitised, georeferenced and linked to contemporary ward boundaries allowing Booth's measurement of social class to be matched to the measurement of social class in the 1991 census of population and standardised mortality ratios derived for all causes of death in the survey area between 1991 and 1995. The social class data were used to derive an index of relative poverty for both time periods and a comparison of the geographies of relative poverty and their relationship with contemporary mortality was made. Although the overall standard of living had increased, the geography of poverty at the end of the 19th century was very similar to that at the end of the 20th century. Moreover, the geography of all causes of death for people over the age of 65 was more strongly related to the geography of poverty in the late 19th century than contemporary patterns of poverty. This relationship was also true for mortality for specific diseases that are related to deprivation in early life. The paper concludes that the spatial patterns of poverty in inner London are extremely robust and a century of change has failed to disrupt it.
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218
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Cruz EN. ["Assisting the poor for free": the medical profession in colonial Jujuy]. COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW : CLAHR 2002; 11:153-176. [PMID: 19385096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
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219
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Ding J. [The establishment of the social security system in modern Britain, 1870-1914]. SHI XUE YUE KAN 2002:81-90. [PMID: 19492467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
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220
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Clarkson LA, Crawford EM. A non-famine history of Ireland? HISTORY IRELAND 2002; 10:31-35. [PMID: 21038721] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
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221
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Venancio RP. [Children and poverty in Rio de Janeiro, 1750-1808]. HISTORIA, QUESTOES & DEBATES : REVISTA DA ASSOCIACAO PARANAENSE DE HISTORIA 2002; 19:129-159. [PMID: 19722320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
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222
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Tiepolo M. [Urbanization and food security in Niamey, Niger]. STORIA URBANA 2002; 26:29-58. [PMID: 17500125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
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223
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Ali I. The historical lineages of poverty and exclusion in Pakistan. SOUTH ASIA (NEDLANDS, W.A.) 2002; 25:33-60. [PMID: 19496274 DOI: 10.1080/00856400208723474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
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224
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Rowley GG. Prostitutes against the Prostitution Prevention Act of 1956. U.S.-JAPAN WOMEN'S JOURNAL. ENGLISH SUPPLEMENT = NICHI-BEI JOSEI JANARU. ENGLISH SUPPLEMENT 2002:39-56. [PMID: 19496281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
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225
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Payne C. "Murillo-like rags or clean pinafores": artistic and social preferences in the representation of the dress of the rural poor. TEXTILE HISTORY 2002; 33:48-62. [PMID: 20707025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
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