Public Health Act of 1879

Public Health Act of 1879

Other short titles	Bureau of Public Health Act, 1879
Long title	An Act to prevent the introduction of infectious or contagious diseases into the United States, and to establish a National Board of Health.
Nicknames	National Board of Health Act, 1879
Enacted by	the 45th United States Congress
Effective	March 3, 1879
Citations
Public law	Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 45–202
Statutes at Large	20 Stat. 484
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 1784 Passed the Senate on February 24, 1879 (45-14) Passed the House on March 3, 1879 (170-63, in lieu of H.R. 6500) Signed into law by President Rutherford B. Hayes on March 3, 1879

Public Health Act of 1879 or National Board of Health Act, 1879 was a United States federal statute authorizing the creation of the National Board of Health. The Act of Congress was an appeal for a national public health organization and national quarantine system for purposes of contagious or infectious diseases discovered in nineteenth century America. The United States public law sanctioned the newly formed National Health Board and Academy of Sciences to provide reports concerning public health information with regards to the Perpetual Union or States for the purposes of;

Provisions of the Act

The forty-fifth United States Congress authored the public law as four sections sanctioning the needs for conformity concerning public health incidences, uniformity of incident reports, and a national public health organization.

Sec. 1 - Creation of National Board of Health

Consist of seven members

Appointed by the President

Advice and consent of the Senate

Not more than one of whom shall be appointed from any one State

Compensation of civilian members

Ten dollars per diem

Meetings

Meet in Washington within thirty days after the passage of this Act

Meet for special examinations and investigations at any place or places within the United States, or at foreign ports

Meet as deemed best, to aid in the execution of this Act and the promotion of its objectives

Sec. 2 - Duties

Obtain information upon all matters affecting the public health of the States

Advise several departments of the government, executives of several States, and Commissioners of the District of Columbia

Opinion of the board and advice to the preservation and improvement of public health for the States

Sec. 3 - Report

National Board of Health and Academy of Science to report directly to Congress at its next session

Full Report concerning statement of transactions and plan for a national public health organization

Plan shall be prepared after consultation with principal sanitary organizations and sanitarians of States or United States

Plan shall have special attention to the subject of quarantine, both maritime and inland

Plan for State or local systems of quarantine and a national quarantine system

Sec. 4 - Appropriation

Appropriation of fifty thousand dollars for the purposes of this Act

Salaries and expenses for National Board of Health

Appropriation to carry out this Act

United States quarantine stations of 1888

The 50th United States Congress passed legislation to enhance and improve the quarantine service for nineteenth century America. In 1888, public laws were enacted by the 22nd President of the United States Grover Cleveland which established eight quarantine stations for the United States coast to coast territorial waters.^[1][2]

• Cape Charles, Virginia
• Port Townsend, Washington
• Delaware Breakwater
• San Diego Harbor, California
• Gulf of Mexico, formerly Ship Island
• San Francisco, California
• Key West, Florida
• Sapelo Sound, South Atlantic

See also

References

Bibliography

• Winslow, Charles-Edward Amory (1911). "Industrial Hygiene". Internet Archive. Boston, Massachusetts: Health Education League. OCLC 52299319.
• Winslow, Charles-Edward Amory (January 9, 1920). "The Untilled Fields of Public Health". Science. 51 (1306): 23–33. Bibcode:1920Sci....51...23W. doi:10.1126/science.51.1306.23. JSTOR 1645011. PMID 17838891.
• The Future of Public Health. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. 1988. pp. 56–72. ISBN 978-0309581905. OCLC 639896452.

External links

• Michael, Jerrold M. (2011). "The National Board of Health: 1879–1883". Public Health Reports. 126 (1). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: 123–129. doi:10.1177/003335491112600117. PMC 3001811. PMID 21337938.
• Woolley, John T. (April 4, 2020). "Presidents and Contagious Disease" [The Evolution of Presidential Leadership in Confronting Contagious Diseases]. The American Presidency Project. University of California - Santa Barbara.
• "A History of the Public Health System". National Center for Biotechnology Information - U.S. National Library of Medicine. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• "Guardians Of Our Country's Health". Internet Archive. Frith Films. 1950.
• "Mississippi Quarantine Stations". National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior.
• "Quarantine Station". National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior.