Social Medical Revolution
What is Social Medicine? It is possible to argue that all medicine by its very nature is social.
The way we define diseases and health, the methods we use for diagnosis and treatment, how we finance health care, all these cannot help but reflect the social environment in which medicine operates.
Social medicine, however, looks at these interactions in a systematic way and seeks to understand how health, disease and social conditions are interrelated.
This type of study began in earnest in the early 1800's.
It was the time of the Industrial Revolution and it was impossible to ignore the extent to which the factory system impoverished the workers, thus creating poverty and disease.
"All medicine is inescapably social," said Leon Eisenberg, the Harvard professor of social medicine and psychiatry, and this Author entirely agrees.
Take, for example, the announcement of the sequencing of the human genome, which the BBC predicted would mean we could "banish inherited disorders, screen people for their vulnerability to diseases, tailor treatment to an individual's genetic make-up, create thousands of new drugs and extend human lifespan.
" Many social, political and intellectual movements that took place at the time influenced medicine in France during the nineteenth century.
During the French Revolution, medical research was stunted, but soon gained momentum and France became the leading influence in the modern age of medicine.
Through the research of many men, great gains of knowledge paved the way for medicine, as we know it today in the twentieth century.
Social epidemiology is defined as "The branch of epidemiology that studies the social distribution and social determinants of health," that is, "both specific features of, and pathways by which, societal conditions affect health.
" Social epidemiology may focus on individual-level measures, or on emergent social properties that have no correlate at the individual level; simultaneous analysis at both levels may be warranted Social medicine is the study of health in its widest sense.
It recognizes the broad determinants of health - income and poverty, education, environmental factors such as housing and transport - as well as health care and genetic influences.
The Society aims to promote the development of scientific knowledge in social medicine.
This covers a range of subjects including epidemiology, the medical and health needs of society, the provision and organization of health services and the prevention of disease.
The goal of public health is to improve lives through the prevention and treatment of disease.
The United Nations' World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
" In 1920, C.
E.
A.
Winslow defined public health as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals.
"
The way we define diseases and health, the methods we use for diagnosis and treatment, how we finance health care, all these cannot help but reflect the social environment in which medicine operates.
Social medicine, however, looks at these interactions in a systematic way and seeks to understand how health, disease and social conditions are interrelated.
This type of study began in earnest in the early 1800's.
It was the time of the Industrial Revolution and it was impossible to ignore the extent to which the factory system impoverished the workers, thus creating poverty and disease.
"All medicine is inescapably social," said Leon Eisenberg, the Harvard professor of social medicine and psychiatry, and this Author entirely agrees.
Take, for example, the announcement of the sequencing of the human genome, which the BBC predicted would mean we could "banish inherited disorders, screen people for their vulnerability to diseases, tailor treatment to an individual's genetic make-up, create thousands of new drugs and extend human lifespan.
" Many social, political and intellectual movements that took place at the time influenced medicine in France during the nineteenth century.
During the French Revolution, medical research was stunted, but soon gained momentum and France became the leading influence in the modern age of medicine.
Through the research of many men, great gains of knowledge paved the way for medicine, as we know it today in the twentieth century.
Social epidemiology is defined as "The branch of epidemiology that studies the social distribution and social determinants of health," that is, "both specific features of, and pathways by which, societal conditions affect health.
" Social epidemiology may focus on individual-level measures, or on emergent social properties that have no correlate at the individual level; simultaneous analysis at both levels may be warranted Social medicine is the study of health in its widest sense.
It recognizes the broad determinants of health - income and poverty, education, environmental factors such as housing and transport - as well as health care and genetic influences.
The Society aims to promote the development of scientific knowledge in social medicine.
This covers a range of subjects including epidemiology, the medical and health needs of society, the provision and organization of health services and the prevention of disease.
The goal of public health is to improve lives through the prevention and treatment of disease.
The United Nations' World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
" In 1920, C.
E.
A.
Winslow defined public health as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals.
"
