http://www.tcpa.org.uk/downloads/1899-1999.pdf

(a) Housing as a health issue first claimed attention in the mid-i 800s. In recent times the topic has once again come to the forefront of concern. The Ministry of Health in 1918 recognized the important influence of housing on health. The 1920s saw the move to demolish insanitary slums, the Garden City movement, and the involvement of Neville Chamberlain, who chose to become Minister of Health rather than Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1925 as he could contribute more in that post to national policy. After the Second World War, housing need was again paramount in view of the destruction wreaked by the War, and the need to re-build and improve. In more recent times major problems in this area remain, both in terms of quality, availability and affordability.

(b) Nutrition is one of the major influences on the health of any population. Before 1939, under-nutrition was the main problem. M’Gonigle, among others, in his study in Stockton-on-Tees, demonstrated the deleterious effects of an inadequate diet on health, despite improved living conditions. With the beginnings of the school medical service and better surveillance of health in school children, improvements were made. The major impetus to change, however, was the introduction of rationing in the course of World War II as I have already stated. The effect of nutrition on health however, has not disappeared. Rather, it has changed direction, with an increasing tendency towards overweight and obesity, particularly among the poorer sections of the community.