I would like to bring to your attention to the way public health has changed over the past 100 years. From 1901 to 2001 the health and life expectancy of a person in Australia has improved dramatically. Life expectancy has risen 30 years between the hundred years of 1901 and 2001. The majority of this improvement in life expectancy can be attributed to public health advances. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were very few effective treatments for common illnesses and any preventive measures were poorly developed. .
Australia's health status 100 years ago is very different to that of today's health status. In the years of Federation there was not an understanding of infectious diseases and antibiotics and vaccines had not been developed. There was overcrowding, poor housing and contaminated water which resulted in transmission of many diseases such as tuberculosis and typhoid fever. In the work place there was a lack of safety standards causing accidental deaths and disability to the mainly male workers. For women there were high deaths rates associated with childbirth and for children through of lack immunisations and good hygiene high deaths rates from infections .
Now we have a greater understanding of the importance of good hygiene, we have clean water supplies and effective disposal sewerage. The discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s and the development of immunisations has meant infectious diseases are no longer as harmful as they were. Our greater understanding of many diseases and improved public awareness has enabled us to limit deaths of certain diseases Cardiovascular disease has declined 65% over the past 100 years due to public education using the media and educational programmes. .
Instead the pattern of disease has changed to be more associated with lifestyle habits. The use of recreational has lead to more drug overdoses. Fast driving associated with alcohol has lead to an epidemic of motor vehicle accidents.