SOC101Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: National Wealth, Social Medicine, Ageism
Document Summary
Radical idea that diseases are never simply biological phenomena. There are social and political roots to diseases. Especially interested in the terrible outbreaks of diseases in berlin in the 19th century. Noticed that the poor people were getting more and more sick. The poor in berlin lived in horrible conditions. If berlin took time to clean up these areas it would have a positive impact to fight the outbreaks of these diseases. Once industrialized countries start to develop their public health system, there would a great improvement in the health of the whole population. What was possible in the west 200 years ago is not necessarily possible in the 3rd world countries. National wealth is critical in the prevention of diseases and premature death. Level of inequality has a major impact on the health of the country in the whole.
