Essay Sample on John Snow: An Icon of Humanitarianism and Societal Change

Introduction

Different people across the globe have made various contributions in different fields, such as health. Most of these contributions made significant impacts during the period in which that were introduced, and have also continued to contribute heavily to the current changes in or society. Some individuals, such as John Snow, made their contributions as a sign of humanity but ended up being recognized for having changed and heavily impacted the society and other fields. This paper aims to discuss the contribution of John Snow to public health.

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John Snow was born in the city of York, England, in the year 1813 (Thomas, 2017). Snow was the firstborn child in a family of nine children that were born by and brought up by Frances Snow and William Snow. His father worked as a laborer in one of the coal yards but later on turned to farming in one small village based in North York. He was brought up in a very poor neighborhood that was frequently affected by floods due to the town proximity to the river. They also experienced poor sanitary conditions and significant contaminations in his hometown due to the numerous contaminants in the area. When John Snow attained the age of 14 years, he was apprenticed to a surgeon known as William Hardcastle (Vineis, 2018). During his apprentice as a surgeon, he encountered and treated most cases of cholera, most of which were obtained from a coal-mining village. Later on in the year, 1936 Snow moved to London, where he began his medical education.

During his studies, he was able to become a key member of the royal college of surgeons. He managed to graduate from the University of London in the year 1844 and was later admitted to join the royal college of physicians (Thomas, 2017). Snow made a significant contribution to public health since he was the founder of modern epidemiology that was used to trace the cases and source of cholera cases in an area. He was inspired by the increased cholera cases in London that made him come up with the epidemiological strategy of tracing the source of cholera and even established the epidemiology Society of London that was mainly focused on responding to the increased cholera cases (Vineis, 2018). Snow is also considered to be the founder of the anesthesia that was used to reduce pain during birth.

Snow's contribution to public health was not widely accepted and welcomed by most people for a long time since people did not believe that his theory was correct. During his time, people believed that cholera was mainly contracted through the air; however, he had an objection to that idea. He decided to come up with his theory that showed that cholera entered the body through the mouth and even went ahead to publish an essay on the mode of communication of cholera. People were against his idea since it was not clear to them how cholera would be contracted through the mouth. However, a few years later, he was able to prove his theory to the rest of the theorists and academicians in a dramatic circumstance (Vineis, 2018). When a cholera outbreak was reported in Soho between the year 1854 and 1855, he introduced his theory that made careful investigations that included mapping cases of cholera in the affected area (Craig et al., 2017). With the help of his theory, he was able to locate a water pump in the area that was the main source of the outbreak. He managed to have the pump handle removed, and eventually, the cholera cases were contained thus proofing to other theorists that his theory was correct. Despite his effort to prove his idea, his theory was not widely embraced by the entire population until the year 1860 (Wojcik et al., 2014).

John Snow was involved in this field due to various reasons that include; first, he was brought up in a very poor area that was heavily affected by poor sanitary conditions and contaminations that brought numerous diseases such as cholera. The river water that they used to depend on in his neighborhood was also highly contaminated by sewages, ran off water from the market, and other contaminations from the cemetery. This contamination made the water unsafe and also triggered the outbreak of diseases (Craig et al., 2017). Therefore when cholera cases started to increase, he took the initiative of helping out since he perceived it a way of helping other people who did not get any help, just like the people who live in the area he was brought up. John Snow was concerned since he did not want other people to live in an environment that was highly contaminated, just like his home town. Secondly, he was overwhelmed by the suffering that the sick individuals had to encounter as a result of being misled by other theorists. During his childhood, it was assumed that cholera was being spread through the air; however, after consulting most cholera patients that he treated, he realized that cholera was specifically being contracted through the mouth. This made him write an essay talking about the mode of cholera communication in order to inform the population of the actual way in which they could easily contract cholera (Vineis, 2018). The individuals who come up with the theory that cholera was airborne heavily objected to his contribution; however, they later came to accept it after Snow proved it in a very dramatic situation. John Snow was dedicated towards finding out and informing the population of the actual cause of the diseases in order to minimize misleading information.

Since John Snow's idea and theory was not well accepted, particularly by the individuals who coined previous theories and the entire population that had been brainwashed by the idea that cholera was airborne, he had to find effective strategies to overcome this challenges or issues. Some of these strategies include taking the obligation of mapping cases of cholera that has occurred in Soho. He also introduced modern epidemiology, which assisted him in identifying and locating all cases and the source of contamination (Craig et al., 2017). This was clear proof to those who raised various adversaries concerning his theory that indeed cholera was spread through the mouth. The attempts of those who were trying to object his idea did not succeed because after removing the water pump, the cholera cases were contained. This was clear proof that Snow's idea was correct.

John Snow's contribution had a significant outcome both to the public health and community. His contribution was important due to various reasons that include; first, it enabled the population to know how they can contract the diseases, for instance, by consuming contaminated water. This was a huge step since people could now easily take proper precautions. Secondly, his contribution enabled the population and public health team to familiarize themselves with epidemiology, which provided an effective way of mapping and identifying the cause of a disease outbreak in an area (Wojcik et al., 2014). John Snow's action played a key role in reducing cases of cholera in Soho. After his theory gained acceptance from the entire population, people had to embrace it in order to prevent themselves from similar cases of cholera outbreak.

John Snow's contribution to establishing epidemiology and identifying the source of cholera was crucial to the public health and community at that time due to various reasons or factors. Some of these reasons include; first, it changed their perception of cholera. Before introduction his contribution, people thought that cholera was a normal disease that one could easily get through air. However, after making his contribution, people came to realize that the issue was more serious than the thought. Secondly, he also helped to minimize cases of distress and pain that the people experienced during obstetric procedures. This was an effective way of ensuring that most mothers delivered their children safely without recording any fatality.

John Snow's contribution was very important at that point in history due to various factors that include, first, most people in that area were dying due to the increased cholera outbreak cases. His contribution was, therefore, very crucial since most of the cholera cases were mitigated. Secondly, during that period, most cases of maternal death were being recorded due to the lack of a safe procedure to reduce the pain and ensure that the mother delivered safely (Shiode et al., 2015). Thirdly it helped to change how people think about various disease, for instance, people I that period did not think that they cholera could be spread through the mouth, but after Snow contribution, it became clear to them that diseases could be spread by any means

Conclusion

John Snow is among the huge number of individuals who made a huge contribution towards public health. He specifically made several contributions to the community and public health. Some of these contributions include introducing safe anesthesia to ensure that mothers delivered safely, introducing epidemiology to help people locate the cause of a particular disease, and also introducing the theory that cholera is usually contracted through the mouth. Snow's effort and contribution helped to reduce cases of cholera that were affecting the global population.

References

Craig, P., Katikireddi, S. V., Leyland, A., & Popham, F. (2017). Natural experiments: an overview of methods, approaches, and contributions to public health intervention research. Annual review of public health, 38, 39-56. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044327

Shiode, N., Shiode, S., Rod-Thatcher, E., Rana, S., & Vinten-Johansen, P. (2015). The mortality rates and the space-time patterns of John Snow's cholera epidemic map. International journal of health geographics, 14(1), 21. https://ij-healthgeographics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12942-015-0011-y

Thomas, H. (2017). John Snow: A pioneer in epidemiology. In Pioneers in Public Health (pp. 33-39). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315163543/chapters/10.4324/9781315163543-4

Vineis, P. (2018). From John Snow to omics: the long journey of environmental epidemiology. European journal of epidemiology, 33(4), 355-363. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-018-0398-4

Wojcik, O. P., Brownstein, J. S., Chunara, R., & Johansson, M. A. (2014). Public health for the people: participatory infectious disease surveillance in the digital age. Emerging themes in epidemiology, 11(1), 7. https://ete-online.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-7622-11-7