{"id":1327,"date":"2022-01-12T13:50:41","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T13:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/commissioner\/?page_id=1327"},"modified":"2026-03-24T13:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:19:14","slug":"history-of-public-health","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/commissioner\/history-of-public-health\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Public Health in Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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391 years of history\u2026and counting<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1600s<\/h2>\n

17th century public health advances<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1610<\/span> The first sanitation law was passed in the Jamestown colony stating, in part, \u201cnor shall anyone aforesaid, within less than a quarter of one mile from the Pallizadoes, dare to doe the necessities of nature\u201d<\/p>\n

1631<\/span> The Colony of Virginia passed an act for the collection of vital statistics<\/p>\n

1639<\/span> A law to regulate the practice of medicine in Virginia was promulgated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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1700s<\/h2>\n

18th century public health advances<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1777<\/span> A law was enacted in the Virginia colony requiring persons having smallpox or other contagious diseases to leave the road on the approach of other persons.<\/p>\n

1780<\/span> The first permanent city board of health in the United States was created in Petersburg, Virginia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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1800s<\/h2>\n

19th century public health advances<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1855<\/span> One-third of Norfolk\u2019s population died from a Yellow Fever outbreak and were buried in a mass burial site. The site is called Yellow Fever Park and is located along Hampton Boulevard in Norfolk\u2019s Ghent neighborhood.<\/p>\n

1860<\/span> A law was enacted in the Virginia colony that permitted free vaccinations by overseers of the poor.<\/p>\n

1872<\/span> Legislation creating the State Board of Health of Virginia was passed.<\/p>\n

1882<\/span> A law was passed in Virginia authorizing municipal authorities to require vaccination.<\/p>\n

1884<\/span> Vaccination was made a prerequisite for school attendance in Virginia.<\/p>\n

1895<\/span> A Virginia law was passed providing for the quarantining of prisoners with contagious diseases in state institutions.<\/p>\n

1893<\/span> The Congressional authority for weekly reporting and publication of four communicable diseases (cholera, smallpox, plague, and yellow fever) from the U.S. Marine Hospital Service was expanded from overseas consuls (1878) to include states and municipal authorities.<\/p>\n

1896<\/span> The first appropriation was made to Virginia\u2019s State Board of Health ($2,000).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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1900s<\/h2>\n

20th century public health advances<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1906<\/span> A health department was established in the city of Richmond, Virginia.<\/p>\n

1907<\/span> A health department was established in the city of Norfolk, Virginia. The State Board of Health was reorganized, establishing Virginia\u2019s State Health Department (VDH). Dr. Ennion G. Williams was appointed as Virginia\u2019s first State Health Commissioner.<\/p>\n

1908<\/span> The VDH central laboratory was established. The General Assembly provided that the State Board of Health could adopt, promulgate, and enforce reasonable rules and regulations for the protection of the public\u2019s health. Pulmonary tuberculosis was made a reportable disease by law in Virginia.<\/p>\n

1910<\/span> The VDH Bureau of Sanitary Engineering was created with responsibility for supervision over public water supplies, sewage, sewage treatment and swimming pools.<\/p>\n

1912<\/span> State and territorial health authorities recommend telegraphic reporting of 5 diseases and monthly reporting (via letter) for 10 more. The first annual summary of Notifiable Diseases was compiled from 19 states, DC and Hawaii (a territory at the time).<\/p>\n

1918<\/span> The Spanish influenza pandemic infected one third of the world\u2019s population (an estimated 500 million people) and caused approximately 50 million deaths.<\/p>\n

1921<\/span> The VDH Division of Mouth Hygiene was created.<\/p>\n

1928<\/span> All states, as well as DC, Hawaii and Puerto Rico begin participating in notifiable disease reporting.<\/p>\n

1932<\/span> The VDH Bureau of Rural Health was established, which later became the Office of Management for Community Health Services.<\/p>\n

1934<\/span> The VDH Maternity Hospital licensing program was established.<\/p>\n

1935<\/span> The Social Security Act was passed resulting in the establishment of the VDH Maternal and Child Health Bureau and the Crippled Children\u2019s Bureau.<\/p>\n

1946<\/span> Virginia established a statewide medical examiner system.<\/p>\n

1947<\/span> The General Hospital licensing law was passed. The Hill-Burton Program was started in Virginia. This was a result of a 1946 law passed by Congress that gave hospitals, nursing homes and other health facilities grants and loans for construction and modernization. In return, they agreed to provide a reasonable volume of services to people unable to pay and to make their services available to all persons residing in the facility\u2019s area.<\/p>\n

1950<\/span> VDH was designated as the state agency responsible for Emergency Medical Services in times of disaster. A conference was authorized of state and territorial epidemiologists to determine diseases to be reported to the U.S. Public Health Service.<\/p>\n

1954<\/span> The Virginia General Assembly authorized creation of cooperative health departments, via a State-Local Partnership for Local Health Services. Previously, all parts of Virginia did not have access to basic public health services, including control of communicable diseases and immunizations. Cities tended to have more established and better funded public health services; rural areas had a limited tax base and could not afford to establish more comprehensive public health services. VDH began creating a statewide system of local health departments(LHD). There were financial incentives to affiliate with the state network. The state would pay its share of all existing services and programs in a LHD. A local match was based on the ability to pay, which was based on the value of taxable real estate. All cities and counties were affiliated between 1954 and 1970. Henrico was the last county to affiliate.<\/p>\n

1980<\/span> The 33rd World Health Assembly declared the world free of smallpox on May 8, 1980. Smallpox eradication (or elimination) is regarded as one of the biggest international achievements in public health.<\/p>\n

1988<\/span> Arlington obtained General Assembly approval to operate a locally administered health department.<\/p>\n

1989<\/span> The Ebola-Reston virus was introduced into primate-holding facilities in Reston, VA (and two other facilities in Pennsylvania and Texas) by monkeys imported from the Philippines. Four people developed antibodies but fortunately never experienced symptoms. <\/p>\n

1990<\/span> Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck were combined to form the Three Rivers Health District.<\/p>\n

Early 1990s<\/span> AIDS became a major public health issue. Programmatic operations to manage AIDS were incorporated into the existing VDH Sexually Transmitted Disease program.<\/p>\n

1994<\/span> Fairfax obtained General Assembly approval to operate a locally administered health department.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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2000s<\/h2>\n

21st century public health advances<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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2002<\/span> Congressional funding made available to state public health agencies to confront the threat of bioterrorism. The VDH Office of Emergency Preparedness was established. A two year outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome occurs worldwide, infecting over 8,000 people from 29 different countries and territories, and resulting in at least 774 deaths. The outbreak was first identified in November 2002 in Guangdong, China.<\/p>\n

2009<\/span> The H1N1 swine flu pandemic occurs worldwide.<\/p>\n

2019<\/span> COVID-19 first discovered in Wuhan, China in December 2019.<\/p>\n

2020<\/span> Virginia identifies its first COVID case. COVID-19 creates a public health crisis, quickly becoming a pandemic. Virginia is the first state in the U.S. to launch a COVID-19 exposure notifications app, COVIDWISE using the Google\/Apple framework (August 5, 2020).<\/p>\n

2021<\/span> VDH achieves Public Health Accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). The VDH begins an initiative to \u201cReimagine Public Health\u201d in Virginia, part of a multi-year project to better align public health operations with a population health focus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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