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Article: Politics of Public Health
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Public Health
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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POLITICS OF PUBLIC HEALTH
In implementing health policy, the United States government began by taking care of its own
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its armed forces and veterans. In the early years of the nation, the health of the general population was addressed only in activities aimed at the control of epidemics. The National Quarantine Service Act was passed by Congress in 1878, the year that 9,000 people died in a yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Memphis, Tennessee. In 1890, Congress passed an appropriation bill for the National Quarantine Service, which became the United States Public Health and Marine Hospital Service in 1902, and ultimately the United States Public Health Service ...