Public health in Burgundie
Malarial abatement
While malaria was not formally identified and then soon after linked to mosquitoes until the 1880s and 90s, classical Bergendii, and Latinics at large, knew in the 1st century AD about the connection between swamps/standing water insects and malaria. As such, in the lands that make up modern-day Burgundie there were many attempts made to drain swamps, domesticate birds and bats to eat these insects (mosquitoes), and to build domiciles as far from remaining standing water on a property as possible.
Historically, much of the interior of Burgundie was divided into latifundium and later fiefdoms that centralized the owned and inhabited land under a centralized control structure. In the classical era these latifundia were worked primarily by slaves, which were expensive and as such the owners wanted to protect their investments. Those latifundia that were situated near swamps were often on the forefront of what is now known as public health in general, and malarial abatement specifically. It was common for these latifundia to have large purpose-built buildings with portions for bats, birds, and owls for insect and rodent control. These buildings were called aviarium/aviari and were common across coastal Dericania. The tenant/servant who ran the avairi were very high ranking in the latifundia system and it was considered an honor to be appointed as one. In the medieval period, under the fief system the use of avairi continued and malarial rates in coastal Dericania remained relatively low.
These control methods left the Bergendii susceptible to the disease and during the Crusades the Bergendii were more likely than their long-suffering Occidental brethren to the disease. Those who did survive and settle into the crusader kingdoms in modern Alcairet and the United Audonian Emirates were much sought after when they or their sons returned. These 100-200 "supermen" (Burg: Hypergens) are considered the forefathers of most modern Bergendii. It was through this population-wide throttle point that many Bergendii got their malarial immunity.
After the Great Confessional War, the Protestants of southern Levantia were banished, often through the newly established trade companies of coastal Dericania. These hundreds of thousands of Protestants were sent all around the world in search of a new home, but most of them settled in the lands of Audonia and Alshar where the collapse of the Oduniyyad Caliphate was still wreaking havoc, almost a century later. The tropical climes meant that malaria was more prevalant then in southern Levantia but the practice of the avairi, the immunity of the Bergendii, and the sheer volume of settlers eventually led to the establishment of massive Pharisedoms. While the initial waves of settlers were more diverse and represented many southern Levantine subcultures, it was primarily the Bergendii to survived and as such the effort are collectively known as the Burgoignesc colonial empire and not the "Levantine" or "Protestant" colonial empire.
In the 20th century advances in pesticides and larger, centralized efforts have led to the eradication of malaria across the whole Burgoignesc thalattocracy. Burgundie has been malaria-free since 1954. Any suspected introductions or outbreaks of the disease are swiftly dealt with.
Immunization
Following the Great Plague in the 1350s, was the first period of exploration into inoculations but they were not used scientifically and were often very harmful to the test patients. It was not until 1714, when the Imperial Society published a report from Kevan I, prince of Faramount that discussed the use of a smallpox inoculation in Audonia as a proven method of curbing the severity of the disease. The Imperial Society's publication was widely accepted by principalities across the Holy Levantine Empire, but implemented at vastly different times and rates. By the 1720s the report had been read by almost all of the courts of the empire. The trading provinces of coastal Dericania took particular interest in the concept. In 1721 a smallpox epidemic spread across the Sea of Istroya and arrived in Vilauristre, Duchy of Bourgondi and Bekshavn, Duchy of Marialanus. Duke Michel-Bastien had recently had his court doctor run an inoculation trial on convicted criminals which had been a success. He had his children inoculated and the following year their health skyrocketed the popularity of inoculations throughout coastal Dericania, particularly in port cities. However, only the rich could afford to get them and so they were not commonplace. It did however, improve the longevity of an entire class of that part of the empire.
In the 19th century advances had been made in inoculation theory and application and it was eventually replaced with vaccination.
Public water
Following the discovery of microbes in water in the the 1670s by Burgoignesc silk merchant Carol-Emile Quincie, a group of interested, scientifically minded individuals sampled well water at critical times in Vilauristran history from the 1690s through the 1780s. Their notes provided invaluable insight into waterborne pathogens in the city and their perceived impact. Their methods were hardly scientific and were referenced with a wide margin of error, but their general hypotheses were the basis of the adoption of the purveyance of clean water to the populace as an issue of public health and financial security of the nascent nation of Burgundie during its initial decades of independence. It is also one of the factors that bridged the divide between the Bergendii from the Isle of Burgundie and Marialanus to the Feinii of the remainder of Ultmar. During the Northern Levantine Mediatization War, in 1813, Vilauristre was attacked by Feinii ships. The resulting fire burned much of the city to the ground and left a few hundred dead. The fire was ultimately put out by a driving rain which also washed the remains of the dead into the surrounding water sources. The citizens demanded a safer, more reliable source of water and a water works was planned and construction started in 1814.
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Vilauristre Water Works in 1835 engraving, with the reservoir abaft.
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Vilauristre Water Works in 1874 and its environs.
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Vilauristre Water Works between 1860 and 1880.
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A contemporary view of the Vilauristre.
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The Vilauristre Water Works pumping station and reservoir was opened in 1817 and originally consisted of 6 massive water wheels that were spun by a diversion in the river created by a weir. The 1.8 million gallons of water a day pumped into the reservoir fed a gravity system that was connected to a series of public baths, fountains, fire plugs and, for a fee, private factories and residences. This led to a similar development in NordHalle, Bekshavn, Dorft, and Dormanshire by the war’s end in 1837. Work slowed as the loss of revenue from the Burgundian West Punth Trading Company set in. Smaller scale works were locally funded in a number of other provincial capitals until the advent of hydroelectric power generation in Burgundie in 1885. With the creation of the ___ DAM in New Burgundie, hydroelectrical power became an obsession across the Burgoignesc thalattocracy. Plants were built in New Burgundie, the Legatation of Ankivara, Sudmoll, Port de Vent, and Medimeria from the 1890s-1920s. These construction projects brought not only power, but consistent, clean water. The companies that owned these plants were eventually nationalized during the Great War and never returned to private ownership. Public water was never coupled with power generation in Levantine Burgundie because hydroelectric power was not fully realized in that region until after the public water systems were constructed. Standalone pumping stations abandoned the water wheel in favor of combustion pumps in the 1890s when demand seemed to be doubling each year. As sewer systems became more comprehensive, access to water mains was also increasing. In Vilauristre and NordHalle, by 1895 all new construction within one city block of an existing water main was required to have a municipal sewer connection and any new road within the city limits had to have a fire plug every 500 paces. These ordinances are considered the genesis of urban planning in Burgundie. By 1958 every urban center in the Burgoignesc thalattocracy had 100% of their deeded residents on public water. During the urban decay of the 1960s in Burgundie and the focus of much of the nation’s resources on Operation Kipling, vast swathes of urbanized areas fell victim to blight and disuse. In order to preserve the value of remaining city property and infrastructure, returning veterans who were unable to secure jobs were given work deconstructing cities and removing the infrastructure. This was no sooner completed then a resurgence in the economy required the expansion of urban centers. This was an opportunity to build smart grids, such as they were in the late 1990s and early 2000s. More efficient street, water, and power plans were implemented. Superblocking was dejure and modern materials for cleaner, more efficient water delivery were used. Monitoring stations and lead filtration systems were added at critical junctures in the new systems and water flow regulators helped regulate the flow to meet demand. By the 2010s, these once derelict city districts were some of the most desirable places to live in the nation.
Food security
Moderate medium and large-scale commercial agriculture, some of the largest farms in Burgundie are run by or on behalf of the Levantine Catholic Church and their produce is used for their food pantries and soup kitchens.
The dawn of the era of Urban Renewal, in 2010, saw the beginning of what would become a nation-wide investment in urban agriculture. The blight visited on the cities during the Great Recession left many vacant lots and abandoned buildings in cities already grappling with booming populations. In some cities the land or buildings whose taxes lapsed for over 5 years reverted to city control, and those which were left unimproved reverted to Palacin Holdings. Some neighborhoods petitioned their cities to allow urban gardens in vacant lots, where no pollution or buildings were present. From 2011 through 2019 it is estimated that this process saw around 350 community gardens spring up in 36 of the largest urban jurisdictions in Burgundie. By 2020 these gardens generated an estimated 493 of the nation's 75,976 tonne vegetable output.