Abstract
FOLLOWING precedent in time of war, the Ministry of Health under the vigorous leadership of its Minister, Mr. Ernest Brown, has just issued a “Summary Report”on the public health of Great Britain from April, 1941, to the end of March, 1942* ; this is instead of the usual annual statement by the Chief Medical Officer. It is recognized that war has the effect of re-distributing the population, affecting the incidence and mortality of disease, and producing a variety of emergency services of a temporary nature (evacuation, raid shelters, and the care of the homeless). Nevertheless, it is highly satisfactory that the health of the people of Great Britain has been more than maintained; and this indeed has contributed substantially to the war-effort itself. This high standard is attributed largely to the improvement made in matters of health, housing, nutrition, and the wider general public services accomplished in the last two decennia. “It owes much to the improvements in housing, health and other social services that were made between 1919 and 1939, and also to all that was done during the same 20 years to educate the public in health matters.” The schools of all grades, the public newspapers, the B. B. C., and the most admirable work of the Ministers of Food and Agriculture in regard to rationing, agricultural development, and domestic application, each of which is a national science and art, have co-operated; and at the back of it all, and inspiring it all, there has been an expanding public appreciation of what is at stake in the cause of freedom. In fact, this is one of the outstanding agencies serving as a lively stimulus of public opinion ; developing a sense of devotion and service, and of mutual interdependence, necessary to a State that is set on winning a war ; this 'something' is a kind of generative ' human credit ', something to bank on, which when it grows in volume and extent inevitably leads to triumph of a constructive kind of statecraft.
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NEWMAN, G. PUBLIC HEALTH IN GREAT BRITAIN. Nature 150, 599–600 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/150599a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/150599a0