مطالعات تاریخ پزشکی (journal of research on history of medicine)
سال:1396 | دوره:6 | شماره:1 |تعداد مقالات:6

The aim of this study is to map the chronological achievements of public health over the past 100 years in a small island state and to outline emerging themes. A retrospective analysis of data was conducted from the published population and vital statistics reports of the Central Statistical Office for the period of 1953-2006, as well as all available published reports of the Ministry of Health. Data were also collected from the published reports of the Registrar General for the period of 1944-52. The study demonstrated the sequence in which diseases of public health importance were eliminated; these included hookworm, smallpox, malaria, cholera, typhoid, yellow fever and the vaccine preventable diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. In addition, for the first time the mumps epidemic of 2000-2003 was identified. While much has been achieved over the past 100 years particularly with regard to infectious diseases, many challenges stand ahead. Hence, a highly trained and skilled PH workforce is required to confront a changing healthcare landscape, epidemics, rising expectations from clients, as well as to tackle key determinants of health.

Persian scholars greatly influenced the advancement of medical sciences during the Middle Ages. As a review of the books surviving from that time shows, infectious diseases was one main field of interest for these scientists. Among this group of health problems, rabies was specifically described by Persian physicians, particularly by Avicenna (980 – 1037 A. D. ) in his famous “ Canon of Medicine. ” The current study aimed to examine these physicians’ brilliant views and innovations on the manifestations, diagnosis, and management of rabies, a subject not comprehensively assessed until now.

The purpose of this historical review is to summarize the work of Paul of Aegina and especially his contribution to the treatment of Spine disorders and trauma. A major review of the literature was undertaken with emphasis on the treatise of Paul himself as well as those of later scholars and historians. Paul expanded the horizons of surgery of his time, using his talent to perform very complicated surgery with favorite outcomes in a variety of diseases in many fields of medicine. This review will focus especially on his use of laminectomy for spinal decompression and how his successful results led him to establish his method as a routine and safe method for the treatment of spinal stenosis. However, our knowledge of his full work is at least incomplete and, from all we know, he does not seem to mention the long term effect that such an operation has on spine stability and movement.