History of health in Britain

health UK

This research focuses on the health impacts of the Industrial Revolution on various sectors of the British population, and hypothesizes that working class and poor laborers suffered from poorer health than their wealthier counterparts due to exposure to pollution and to lack of exposure to a varied diet.

Public health and the public health system existing in the 21st century is unrecognizable from what existed just a century before. As Wohl (1983) points out, poverty, ignorance, and poor sanitation plagued British public health throughout the Victorian era. It is important to understand what prompted the changes that led to increased knowledge, awareness, and application of ethical principles in health care. Armed with this knowledge, the bioarchaeologist and health care specialists alike can work together to transform health care outcomes in the future.

In particular, the Industrial Revolution impacted individual and public health in significant and measurable ways. Coal production rapidly transformed the landscape of Britain, and also altered the health of its residents. The Industrial Revolution also led to ancillary changes in British health including changes in what, when, where, and how British people ate.

Diets have been changed due to the introduction of non-indigenous plants and animals into the local diets of British residents. After the Age of Exploration, Britain had at its disposal previously unheard of products including tea, potatoes, and chocolate. Over the past century and due to technological advancements, the British diet has expanded exponentially. Both benefits and detriments to health are evident in the archaeological record.

Obtaining ancient DNA from bone samples, the bioarchaeologist will be able to observe health trends among the target populations. Using a bioarchaeological methodology, the researcher will examine gravesites of different classes of people, which is possible due to ingrained social class stratification throughout Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution. The obtaining of permissions for disinterring bodies will be carried out with the proper legal and ethical permissions.

While it may seem too obvious to draw the connection between coal production and increased incidences of respiratory illnesses, the sociological aspects of the research are meaningful for presenting public health proposals that target at-risk communities today. Furthermore, understanding the connection between social class status and health reveals the continued health disparities between rich and poor cohorts. It is also critical to understand the connection between exposure to factory contaminants in the coal industries and cancers that may have their genesis in mitochondria. The bioarchaeologist is in the unique position of revealing direct causal relationships between environmental toxin exposure and cancer genesis.