Fighting infectious disease: Evidence from Sweden 1870-1940
(2016) In Population and Development Review 42(1). p.27-52- Abstract
- Even more than in developing countries today, public health strategies to fight infectious disease in the past focused on the prevention of new infections by stopping their spread. These strategies were motivated by new insights into the causes of disease and the modes of transmission in the mid-nineteenth century. By combining longitudinal individual-level data on 17,000 children in a rural/semi-urban region in southern Sweden with local community data on public health investments, we explore the effects of the establishment of isolation hospitals and improved midwifery on mortality before age 15. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that the establishment of isolation hospitals in the mid-1890s was successful in reducing... (More)
- Even more than in developing countries today, public health strategies to fight infectious disease in the past focused on the prevention of new infections by stopping their spread. These strategies were motivated by new insights into the causes of disease and the modes of transmission in the mid-nineteenth century. By combining longitudinal individual-level data on 17,000 children in a rural/semi-urban region in southern Sweden with local community data on public health investments, we explore the effects of the establishment of isolation hospitals and improved midwifery on mortality before age 15. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that the establishment of isolation hospitals in the mid-1890s was successful in reducing child mortality, while increases in the number of qualified midwives after the 1900s led to a decrease in infant mortality. In both cases, rates fell by more than 50 percent. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4f6e2940-a412-4c94-8556-3799187f6336
- author
- Lazuka, Volha LU ; Quaranta, Luciana LU and Bengtsson, Tommy LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2016-04-08
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Population and Development Review
- volume
- 42
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 26 pages
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000374046200002
- scopus:84962638029
- ISSN
- 1728-4457
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2016.00108.x
- project
- Defeating Disease: Lasting Effects of Public Health and Medical Breakthroughs between 1880 and 1945 on Health and Income in Sweden
- Landskrona Population Study
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 4f6e2940-a412-4c94-8556-3799187f6336
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-11 20:16:50
- date last changed
- 2022-03-16 03:58:32
@article{4f6e2940-a412-4c94-8556-3799187f6336,
abstract = {{Even more than in developing countries today, public health strategies to fight infectious disease in the past focused on the prevention of new infections by stopping their spread. These strategies were motivated by new insights into the causes of disease and the modes of transmission in the mid-nineteenth century. By combining longitudinal individual-level data on 17,000 children in a rural/semi-urban region in southern Sweden with local community data on public health investments, we explore the effects of the establishment of isolation hospitals and improved midwifery on mortality before age 15. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that the establishment of isolation hospitals in the mid-1890s was successful in reducing child mortality, while increases in the number of qualified midwives after the 1900s led to a decrease in infant mortality. In both cases, rates fell by more than 50 percent.}},
author = {{Lazuka, Volha and Quaranta, Luciana and Bengtsson, Tommy}},
issn = {{1728-4457}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{04}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{27--52}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Population and Development Review}},
title = {{Fighting infectious disease: Evidence from Sweden 1870-1940}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2016.00108.x}},
doi = {{10.1111/j.1728-4457.2016.00108.x}},
volume = {{42}},
year = {{2016}},
}