2011/07/01 by Akihito Suzuki · 1 citation
Medicine · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Mathematics · #Zoonotic diseases and public health #Race, Genetics, and Society #COVID-19 epidemiological studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0025727300005329
openalex publication_date 2011/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
This article examines one of the long-term structural forces that contributed to the making of public health in Modern Japan. My overall argument is that the history of public health should be conceived as a total history, encompassing not just political, administrative, and scientific factors but also natural, social, and economic factors. Elsewhere I have discussed two of these factors in some detail, both of which were long-term structural forces resulting from the interactions of different realms: 1) the effect of the topography and the pattern of the use of land; and 2) the effect of the market as a medium for people's behaviour seeking the prevention of the disease. Here I will argue that the Japanese long-term experience of diseases provided another structural force that shaped public health in Japan. The long-term cumulative factor can be called the ‘epidemiological heritage’ of Japan.