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Poverty and epidemics
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The Painted Veil: A Public Health Perspective
The painted veil was a romantic drama, set in and environment of disease in public health. Of the main characters, Walter Fane and his role as a bacteriologist gave the biggest connection within the movie to public health. As the movie progressed, his actions grew from epidemiologist into somewhat of a promoter of public health. His part in the story really allowed us to see many different facets of jobs with in public health and the impact they can have on the population.
I believe that the intent of the film was firstly as a romantic story. Though, the setting in rural China during the Cholera epidemic had purpose. In the beginning of the movie, Kitty and Walters relationship wasn 't well. This
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Though he was foremost a scientist, he also played several rolls which were linked to public health. He aided in disease control and prevention as well as presenting many measures to fight the Cholera epidemic the town faced (Norton, Collenton, Yari, Watts, Fonlupt & Curran, 2006). From the first moments he arrives in the village, he is looking for ways the Cholera has been spread. He suspects the water supply and then tests it. Upon finding out that it was contaminated, he immediately closes the well and urges that people stop drinking and bathing with the water. When he finds out that the location is for burial of Cholera victims is dangerously close to the river, Walter pleads with residents to move the bodies and stop burying them there. Due to the spiritual reasons the villagers are reluctant. Having to prevent the town from using the contaminated water, Walter develops the aqueduct system as an alternative, so that the town has drinking and bathing water which is not containing the cholera bacteria. The film showed a great deal of epidemiology and traced the prevention of epidemics spread from finding the source of transmission to putting in place rules to stop the contraction of the disease. Additionally, it showed how by bringing in clean water, the spread of the disease could be greatly prevented (Norton et al, & Curran, 2006). …show more content…
1). Beside the continual casualties the diseases caused, these two epidemics shared common qualities when it comes to the level of preparedness and views held by both locations. The first similarity is the economic situation in rural China and West Africa. They both lived deeply in poverty and relied on the bare minimum when it came to food, water, and shelter. This fact predisposes them to being infected by an outbreak (Buseh, Stevens, Bromberg, & Kelber, 2015, p. 33). Along with poverty, the spiritual views on medicine are vastly different from the western culture. They aren’t knowledgeable on common health safety practices because they mainly rely on religious and spiritual practices, as it was stated by an article in Nursing Outlook (Buseh, Stevens, Bromberg, & Kelber, 2015, p. 33). This was a big part of the Cholera spread in the movie, involving the burial of bodies near the river and its connection with their beliefs (Norton et al, & Curran, 2006). An article by Tomori also addressed the Ebola epidemic and its association with their culture’s method of burial (Tomori, 2015, p.
Ebola from everyone’s point of view is seen as inferno. Dr. Steven Hatch’s memorable journey began with him volunteering to leave for Liberia in 2013 to work at a hospital in Monrovia to fight Ebola in one of its most affected areas. There were only a few patients with Ebola when he arrived. The number of patients rapidly increased over his time in Liberia. After six months Ebola was declared a world health emergency and not only were ordinary people outside of the hospital getting the virus but the medical personnel that were tending to the patients had caught it and some of them had even died.
The story “The Minister’s Black Veil” is symbolic of the hidden sins that we hide and separate ourselves from the ones we love most. In wearing the veil Hooper presents the isolation that everybody experiences when they are chained down by their own sins. He has realized that everybody symbolically can be found in the shadow of their own veil. By Hooper wearing this shroud across his face is only showing the dark side of people and the truth of human existence and nature.
Johnson’s story follows the journeys of characters we come to know well and their reactions to the cholera outbreak. Our interest is kept by the ongoing revelation of important information, and the developing conflict between a major character and his view of the epidemic versus that of majority of others, both in the scientific community and the population at large. He keeps us guessing about how and if the mystery will be solved and at the same time recreates a world that is completely unknown to us.
Because of geographic isolation, human societies develop either genetic or cultural defenses against certain types of disease, an adaptation that keeps them free from major endemic devastation (Patterson 3). K. David Patterson, Associate Professor of History, describes the African environment as “extremely dangerous for outsiders” and goes on to say that Europeans “generally found Africa’s ‘fevers’ and ‘fluxes’ deadly until the beginning of tropical medicine in the late nineteenth century” (7). Similarly, once the geographic and cultural barriers between West and East Africa were broken down, they became extremely vulnerable to the other’s infectious diseases (Azevedo 121).
The Ghost Map isn’t just a story about some aspect of public health; I would argue that it is a recounting one of the defining moments of public health. The book describes the history of one man, Dr. John Snow, as he defiantly set about to investigate the cause of London’s cholera outbreaks in the mid-nineteenth century. His contributions to medicine would ultimately lend to the field that would evolve into public health.
"The Minister's Black Veil" is an allegorical narrative in which the agents of setting, symbols, characters, and actions come in a coherent way to represent non-literal and metaphorical meanings about the human character. The black veil is without doubt the most important symbol used in the story. It comes to represent the darkness and duality of human nature, adding thereby a certain undeniable psychoanalytical angle to the short story. The black veil represents the sin that all men carry secretively within their heart as M...
Ebola, a virus which acquires its name from the Ebola River (located in Zaire, Africa), first emerged in September 1976, when it erupted simultaneously in 55 villages near the headwaters of the river. It seemed to come out of nowhere, and resulted in the deaths of nine out of every ten victims. Although it originated over 20 years ago, it still remains as a fear among African citizens, where the virus has reappeared occasionally in parts of the continent. In fact, and outbreak of the Ebola virus has been reported in Kampala, Uganda just recently, and is still a problem to this very day. Ebola causes severe viral hemorrhagic fevers in humans and monkeys, and has a 90 % fatality rate. Though there is no cure for the disease, researchers have found limited medical possibilities to help prevent one from catching this horrible virus.
The first principle character in this play is Blanche DuBois. She is a neurotic nymphomaniac that is on her way to meet her younger sister Stella in the Elysian Fields. Blanche takes two 2 streetcars, one named Desire, the other Cemeteries to get to her little sisters dwelling. Blanche, Stella and Stanley all desire something in this drama. Blanche desired a world without pain, without suffering, in order to stop the mental distress that she had already obtained. She desires a fairy tale story about a rich man coming and sweeping her off her feet and they ride away on a beautiful oceanic voyage. The most interesting part of Blanche is that through her unstable thinking she has come to believe the things she imagines. Her flashy sense of style and imagination hide the truly tragic story about her past. Blanche lost Belle Reve but, moreover, she lost the ones she loved in the battle. The horror lied not only in the many funerals but also in the silence and the constant mourning after. One cant imagine how it must feel to lose the ones they love and hold dear but to stay afterwards and mourn the loss of the many is unbearable. Blanche has had a streak of horrible luck. Her husband killing himself after she exposed her knowledge about his homosexuality, her advances on young men that led to her exile and finally her alcoholism that drew her life to pieces contemplated this sorrow that we could not help but feel for Blanche throughout the drama. Blanche’s desire to escape from this situation is fulfilled when she is taken away to the insane asylum. There she will have peace when in the real world she only faced pain.
The drama is basically about a married couple -Stella and Stanley Kowalski- who are visited by Stella's older sister, Blanche. The drama shows the caustic feelings of these people putting Blance DuBois in the center. The drama tells the story of the pathetic mental and emotional demise of a determined, yet fragile, repressed and delicate Southern lady born to a once-wealthy family of Mississippi planters.3 No doubt that the character of Blanche is the most complex one in the drama. She is truly a tragic heroine.
Victims ragged in agony, their muscles in continuous spasms. They could’ve died within hours. No one knew what was spreading the disease or how it could be stopped. After the outbreak ended, over 32 000 people had lost their lives. It was Britain’s first Cholera epidemic. The sewers were contaminating the water system and spreading the disease. At first they though it’s in the air but you could see how a cluster of people surrounding a water pump would have died quicker.
In 1976 the first two Ebola outbreaks were recorded. In Zaire and western Sudan five hundred and fifty people reported the horrible disease. Of the five hundred and fifty reported three hundred and forty innocent people died. Again in 1995 Ebola reportedly broke out in Zaire, this time infecting over two hundred and killing one hundred and sixty. (Bib4, Musilam, 1)
According to the World Health Organization, the reason why there are many Ebola outbreaks in West Africa is because they have “very weak health systems, lacking human and infrastructural resources, having only recently emerged from long periods of conflict and instability.” A hum...
Public health is aimed at protecting and improving the health of the collective population and communities to prevent disease, promote health and prolong life among the population, through educational programs, promotion of healthy lifestyles and research for diseases and injury protection (WHO, n.d).
In 2013 most people didn't know nothing about Ebola and didn't even know this disease existed. This infection was first identified in 1976 but did little harm that they did not make a cure for it. This disease can be spread through having contact with another persons blood, saliva, and sweat (Brooks). There are also some information that shows that a person who did not have Ebola did use a blanket from someone who did have Ebola and got the disease just like that (Altman). "Ebola is a virus, or infection, It gets its name from the Ebola River, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the disease was first reported, in 1976" (What Is Ebola?). Ebola started in west Africa and is now a global crisis. Some say that this disease was originated from fruit bats and these animals can spread this disease and not have it at the same time
As the western world expand many people became ill with cholera because of overcrowding in living space, in some cities overcrowding often involved quarters below street level, where water was constantly seeping in the living area. In many Latin and African country the cholera virus is more common because of poor hygiene, poor sanitation and lack of education on public health. In an outbreak, the source of the contamination is usually the feces of an infected person that contaminates water or food. The disease can spread like wild fire in areas with poor treatment of sewage and drinking water. In Europe in the 1800s many people became infected with cholera because there water drawn from the nearby streams and rive...