100 Objects; 100 Ways to Influence Public Health

To celebrate its centennial this year, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published a list of the 100 objects that shaped public health over the course of that history.

The interactive list is separated into the following categories: Cancer, disease-fighters, eating and drinking, everyday objects, furniture and appliances, material and child health, medical innovations, road safety, tech and innovation, and things you wear. By now, the well-informed planner should already be chomping at the bit to imagine the potential professional and practical cross-over of the list, and Linda Poon has already done some of the work of pulling out planning-related items on the list.

“Some have, for better or worse, an obvious connection to public health, including automobiles, toilets, and cigarettes. Others are a bit unexpected—such as spittoons, smartphones, and the Chevrolet Corvair,” writes Poon before digging deeper into the examples of the Corvair, window screens, spittoons, smartphones, rats, and air conditioners.