“Urbanisation is not about simply increasing the number of urban residents or expanding the area of cities.” – Li Keqiang, Premier of People’s Republic of China (Independent, 2012)
In nineteenth century, England has faced an enormous and rapid growth of urban population. In-migrants, people from rural areas of England and Wales, were moving to larger, industrial cities, such as London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester. In one century, the population of London, for example, increased from 1,117,000 to 6,586,000 while city of Liverpool has expanded from 82,000 to 685,000 citizens (Williams, 2004). It is argued that this rapid growth of urban population has lead to a transformation of urban cities, including shift in population health, political …show more content…
As evidence suggests, these cities also faced a decline in health of population, with some health outcomes being dropped down to levels of plague epidemic period. For instance, according to Szreter and Mooney (1998) life expectancy in the mid nineteenth century was as low as 38, 32, and 37 for London, Manchester and Liverpool respectively. As the population grew, Victorian urban cities encountered more and more health issues. Endemic diseases, such as typhus and typhoid, re-emerged alongside with new epidemics emerging in the cities, such as cholera and smallpox (Haley, 1978). To demonstrate, in London in 1840s, on average 62 in 100,000 died from smallpox annually, with 180 in 100,000 being children under 15. For the typhus, 67 in 100,000 died where 75 in 100,000 were children under 15 (Registrar-General, 1841). Older people, those over 60, have low deaths rates and statistics. This is probably due to low life expectancy and early death, such as from typhus endemic, which had a mortality rate of around 20-40 per cent (Registrar-General, 1841). In the following years, endemics and epidemics only became worse: for example, typhus deaths rate in London increased up to average of 87 in 100,000 in 1860 (Registrar-General, 1860). In addition, the famous cholera outbreak that took place in London in 1854 killed more than 500 people in Broad Street …show more content…
Some argue that the answer lies in the nature and transmission of the diseases with high mortality. Smallpox, the infectious disease, which was causing many early deaths across the Victorian Britain, is transmitted through person-to-person contact and saliva droplets (WHO.int, 2015). Typhus is transmitted through faecal matter of infected lice rubbed onto a broken skin (WHO.int, 2015). Cholera is an “acute diarrheal disease” that is transmitted by ingestion of contaminated water or food (WHO,int, 2015). What these diseases have in common is that it is evident that they thrive and emerge in conditions of poor hygiene, poor sanitation and over-crowding. The question that arises from that is “Was that the case in Victorian Britain?”. Unfortunately, urban cities with the expanding urban population were not able to provide population with adequate sanitation measures, comprehensive water supply systems and sewerage systems (Szreter, 1999). This inevitably led to poor hygiene and sanitation amongst the urban population. In addition, growing populations also led to horrendous over-crowding of some cities (Szreter and Mooney,
In nineteenth century, England has faced an enormous and rapid growth of urban population. In-migrants, people from rural areas of England and Wales, were moving to larger, industrial cities, such as London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester. In one century, the population of London, for example, increased from 1,117,000 to 6,586,000 while city of Liverpool has expanded from 82,000 to 685,000 citizens (Williams, 2004). It is argued that this rapid growth of urban population has lead to a transformation of urban cities, including shift in population health, political …show more content…
As evidence suggests, these cities also faced a decline in health of population, with some health outcomes being dropped down to levels of plague epidemic period. For instance, according to Szreter and Mooney (1998) life expectancy in the mid nineteenth century was as low as 38, 32, and 37 for London, Manchester and Liverpool respectively. As the population grew, Victorian urban cities encountered more and more health issues. Endemic diseases, such as typhus and typhoid, re-emerged alongside with new epidemics emerging in the cities, such as cholera and smallpox (Haley, 1978). To demonstrate, in London in 1840s, on average 62 in 100,000 died from smallpox annually, with 180 in 100,000 being children under 15. For the typhus, 67 in 100,000 died where 75 in 100,000 were children under 15 (Registrar-General, 1841). Older people, those over 60, have low deaths rates and statistics. This is probably due to low life expectancy and early death, such as from typhus endemic, which had a mortality rate of around 20-40 per cent (Registrar-General, 1841). In the following years, endemics and epidemics only became worse: for example, typhus deaths rate in London increased up to average of 87 in 100,000 in 1860 (Registrar-General, 1860). In addition, the famous cholera outbreak that took place in London in 1854 killed more than 500 people in Broad Street …show more content…
Some argue that the answer lies in the nature and transmission of the diseases with high mortality. Smallpox, the infectious disease, which was causing many early deaths across the Victorian Britain, is transmitted through person-to-person contact and saliva droplets (WHO.int, 2015). Typhus is transmitted through faecal matter of infected lice rubbed onto a broken skin (WHO.int, 2015). Cholera is an “acute diarrheal disease” that is transmitted by ingestion of contaminated water or food (WHO,int, 2015). What these diseases have in common is that it is evident that they thrive and emerge in conditions of poor hygiene, poor sanitation and over-crowding. The question that arises from that is “Was that the case in Victorian Britain?”. Unfortunately, urban cities with the expanding urban population were not able to provide population with adequate sanitation measures, comprehensive water supply systems and sewerage systems (Szreter, 1999). This inevitably led to poor hygiene and sanitation amongst the urban population. In addition, growing populations also led to horrendous over-crowding of some cities (Szreter and Mooney,