Improvement of Public Health in the 20th Century

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Improvement of Public Health in the 20th Century

The Industrial Revolution paved the way for many factories and a

large, poor, working-class population. Therefore, at the beginning of

the 20th century, Britain had thousands of factories polluting the

environment and millions of poor workers living in squalor. This meant

that the most important concerns of public health were better housing

and cleaner air.

Housing

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In the cities businesses wanted as many workers near to the factories

as possible so that there would be less travel time and more time

working. Builders built houses back to back so that they could cut on

expenditure and fit more people in. The only toilets for these houses

were at the end of the row, meaning communal, imagine if someone in

that row had a disease, then it would most probably be passed to the

rest of the people living on that row. There were no gardens. This

caused major ill health and in 1909 it was banned. This improved

public health because it meant every house would have some open space

either at the front or back of their house and they would not have to

share bathing facilities, which improved sanitation.

In the First World War the government pledged the soldiers that it

would solve the housing problem and create "homes fit for heroes" when

the soldiers return. In 1919 a Housing Act was passed, requiring local

councils to provide good homes for all working-class people. The

government funded the scheme for the first four years and this helped

speed up the work. The "homes fit for heroes" scheme improved public

health because it created over a quarter of a million new homes.

The next step was the "slum clearance" program. This involved areas of

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