How many marks would this get for the history 16 marker in GSCE?

The statement is ‘Was Public Health a disaster in the Middle Ages’ How Far Do you agree?’
In the Middle ages (500 to 1500 AD), there was a series of events which affected the public health in most areas. Moreover, there are several factors which contributed to the crisis of public health, but some of the most prominent factors were-living/food conditions, the church and non-religious/ religious causes of diseases.
One of the many factors that contributed to the crisis of public health in the medieval period were the living conditions. In most towns, people lived in houses that were specifically constructed fairly thin and could approximately fit around 5-10 people in one single room. Moreover, these houses typically had thatched roofs where mice and rats would scatter around spreading any disease they had one them. This essentially meant that disease could transmit from person to person fairly quicker making these living suitations quite unsanitary to operate and to live in. In addition to this, most homes had shared cesspits ( a pit for the diposal of liquid waste and sewage), as a result excrement would leak into others homes. Many people would also throw their waste onto the streets of towns essentially making the enviroment unhygenic and contaminated. Therefore, living conditions were a significant impact on public health in the medieval period as it contributed to the increasing spread of disease and the uncleanliness of the environment.
Essentially, the Church was also a raging factor in the crisis of public health in the middle ages. Moreover, The roman catholic church was a dominant and extremely prominment instition in the middle period as almost everyone followed the religion. Due to this, during the Black Death, as the disease grew and spread quicker the church encouraged the practice of flagellation (the process of whipping oneself for the forgiveness of God). The Black Death was essentially perceived to be a punishment from God for people sins and wrong doing. In addition, the church reassured everyone that if they repented for their sins and wrongdoing that would fundamentally be exonerated of them and the disease would vacate from them and they would be forgiven. Furthermore, the church also forced upon Hippocrates theory of the 4 humors on the scholars (the theory that the body was was made up of blood, phelgm, yellow and black bile- and that they all needed to be balanced in order for the body to function properly) this particular theory lined up perfectly with the Church's ideology and teachings as they believed that God essentially made the human body to be perfect. The church also outlawed dissection which hindered doctors from le about human anatomy. Therefore, the church was a significant impact on
Public health as it hindered medieval society on acknowledging behind the Black death and illness/disease.
Moreover, non-religious superstitions of the cause of disease like the miasma theory, astrology etc. also made a detrimental influence on public health in the middle ages. The Miasma theory was the belief that bad smells/odour contributed to the spread of the disease. As a result of this theory, people in the medieval period carried herbs like rosemary to dissolve the smells to prevent them from catching the disease. The Miasma theory was such a solid belief that it even lasted until the 1860's until it was overthrown by the germ theory. Astrology was also a factor that people belief to be a cause of disease. Astrology was essentially the belief that movements of the stars and planets had an effect on earth and on people. Astrologers in the medieval period believed that these movements were the sole cause of the disease. Moreover, Astrology was initially used to Arabic medicine until it quickly spread news into england in between 1100 to 1300. As a result of these factors, they essentially made a detrimental impact of public health as it caused the continuity of these incorrect beliefs therefore making the improvement of public health go at a slow rate.
However, there are some factors that contribute to the improvement of public health. In the middle period such as the towns passing by-laws which aimed at cleaning up waste. As the Black death followed followed towns and markets became more unsanitary due to animals leaving their waste on the streets. Initially, the town of Bristol made efforts to clean up dung heaps and leapers and move them to the outskirts of town. Communities essentially needed good sanitation and cleaning facilities to live a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, this method proved to be effective for public health as it improved the cleanliness of towns by introducing by laws that helped people deter from throwing waste onto the streets.
In conclusion, public health in the mediveal ages did essentially proved to be a disaster/crisis. factors, many of which were based on living conditions and religious/societal supersitions contributed in the ownwards spiral in public health in the middle ages. Morever, the living conditions and religious and societal supersitions which highlighted the uncleanliness and consequently disease. However, as certain by laws were passed to improve the cleanliness of towns but as a whole it can be assumed that Public health in the medieval period was indeed a disaster and crisis.