Public Health in Northern New Spain

Abstract

Public health is that branch of preventative medicine in which the community at large has a special interest. When the cause of a neighbor"s illness threatens the well being of the entire community or when his disease itself cannot be easily contained then the mechanisms of the state properly intercede. Traditionally public health has articulated two primary, but related goals: the prevention of disease and the improvement of life expectancy. The methods used to achieve these goals have varied throughout history but two basic approaches have dominated the public health effort: monitoring and correcting the environmental causes of illness and arresting the rapid spread of epidemic contagion.