Ending remarks for the course

We hope you have enjoyed the course, and found the materials engaging!

In this last week we learned about the solutions offered to public health challenges, and looked forward to see how this history has implications for the future of public health. We discussed the role of regulations, health education and behaviour change for the management of public health problems. We also evaluated how successful these solutions were, and discussed the difficulties behind measuring their impact.

The past is not always an accurate predictor of the future: history rarely repeats itself exactly. However, there are things that we can learn from the past. As we have seen, there has been both change and continuity in the post-war history of public health. New problems, such as lifestyle-related chronic disease, have appeared, and old issues, like the impact of social inequality on health, continue. Whatever the future holds, understanding how we got to where we are today will better equip us to meet the challenges ahead.

Goodbye

We would like to thank all of you for taking the time to learn with us and for participating so eagerly in this course. Your insights and diverse experiences have made for some very thought-provoking conversations. We hope that regardless of your background, this course has inspired you to continue learning more about history and public health more generally.