A comparative history of public health, this volume begins with the first European settlement on the Australia's east coast in 1788 and follows developments into the aftermath of the Second World War. In contrast to the last 50 years, which have been characterized by a focus on chronic, degenerative diseases of an aging population and emerging infections, such as AIDS, the first era of Australian public health grappled with disease and mortality patterns shaped by communicable diseases. Lewis uses the American and British experiences with public health during this period to place the Australian effort within a global context, providing the reader with a veritable history of the evolution of public health on a worldwide scale. After discussing the emergence of public health in Europe between the 16th and 19th centuries, Lewis details the terrible impact of European infections on virgin, indigenous populations of Australia and other parts of the New World. He explores the opposition of private medical practitioners to the full provision of public health services in the early 20th century. As in the U.S., the Federal structure of government made creation of an effective national public health presence difficult. It would require the reforming Federal Labor administrations of the 1940s to make a serious attempt to integrate preventative and curative services-an attempt that ultimately foundered due to constitutional obstacles and an electoral backlash against government controls. By the 1950s, public health would nearly disappear from community and government awareness.

This second volume on the history of public health in Australia completes the story of the conception and evolution of medicine in the island nation. Whereas volume one details the period from 1788 when Europeans first settled on the east coast of the island until just after World War II, this book carries the story to the end of the twentieth century with the notion of a social view of public health. While health care in the first era was characterized by a focus on disease and mortality patterns very much shaped by communicable diseases, the second period was marked by the need to respond to chronic, degenerative diseases of an aging population, along with emerging infections, in particular HIV/AIDS. Recent years have also seen the emergence of new concerns such as genetically-modified foods and the role of public health in response to bioterrorism. Themes developed in volume one continue to play a major role in recent health care policy, in particular comparisons with public health in the United Kingdom and the United States. The problematic relationship between public health and clinical medicine and the small resources flowing to public health in comparison to those allocated to curative and rehabilitative services continue to be areas of concern. Many politicians and citizens have yet to come to terms fully with the changes required by thinking of health advancement in terms of the interaction of the biological and social nature of humankind.

This second volume on the history of public health in Australia completes the story of the conception and evolution of medicine in the island nation. Whereas volume one details the period from 1788 when Europeans first settled on the east coast of the island until just after World War II, this book carries the story to the end of the twentieth century with the notion of a social view of public health. While health care in the first era was characterized by a focus on disease and mortality patterns very much shaped by communicable diseases, the second period was marked by the need to respond to chronic, degenerative diseases of an aging population, along with emerging infections, in particular HIV/AIDS. Recent years have also seen the emergence of new concerns such as genetically-modified foods and the role of public health in response to bioterrorism. Themes developed in volume one continue to play a major role in recent health care policy, in particular comparisons with public health in the United Kingdom and the United States. The problematic relationship between public health and clinical medicine and the small resources flowing to public health in comparison to those allocated to curative and rehabilitative services continue to be areas of concern. Many politicians and citizens have yet to come to terms fully with the changes required by thinking of health advancement in terms of the interaction of the biological and social nature of humankind.