Evolution Towards an Ecosystem Approach to Public Health

Abstract

This chapter discusses the key milestones leading to the emergence of ecosystem approaches to public health thinking, research and practice. The chapter discusses events in three areas that led to public health thinking toward an ecosystem approach. First, the chapter traces evolution of thinking in public health from the “old” public health, through to the “new” public health, and on to the “critical” new public health. The “old” public health is characterized by three phases: the sanitary phase (1840s–1870s), the preventive phase (1870s–1930s), and the therapeutic phase (1930s–1970s). All three phases are associated with the biomedical model of health, with each era defined according to dominant forms of medical knowledge (Brown and Duncan 2002).