World War 1 and Welfare State
World war 1 was for many the war of first. It was the first war fought on land, air and sea. soldiers were equipped with innovative weaponry. Even chemical weapons such as mustard gas were used.
To better defend and fought the trenches were constructed. The primary purpose of defending got fulfilled but the trenches were disastrous for soldiers’ health. It was full of dirt, blood and human waste.
In trenches, wounded soldiers were given tetanus toxoid to ward off harmful bacteria from entering wounds and provided with antiseptic. Anesthesia and radiography improved the health conditions in trenches.
Unprecedented disfigurement forced a change in the way the design and production of prosthetic limbs, and due to heavy injuries, the demand for artificial limbs increased exponentially. Once it was for the elite; now it was for soldiers.
Casualty care system was advanced. Due to medical research in anesthesia and radiography, surgeons were well thought. ambulances were employed to transport the wounded soldiers from the war site to medical facility centres.
So this care taken in the emergency period led to thinking about a new concept which is “welfare state”. A welfare state is defined as a state which takes care of the health and well-being of its citizens. Individualized and particular treatment rather than homogenized treatment changed the landscape of welfare and view about public health.
Systemic thinking soon spread from the medical to the political sphere. Various intellectuals said that society is like the human body and socioeconomic classes are its organs. When organs get damaged so does the human body. That is like when poverty and diseases spread then society gets ill.
Today even a century later after the first world war many nation-states struggle to allocate a sufficient amount of GDP for public health. This underlines the gap between advanced countries and developing countries.
