RFK Jr.

The designated secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the United States, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is quite a controversial figure, not least because of his stance on vaccines. He reasons that vaccines are behind the rapid rise of allergies in the last hundred years, while the general improvement in health during this time is more due to the work of engineers than medical personal. 

I don't have the medical expertise to judge if his comments about the rise in allergies are true. But I see firsthand that he makes a good point about the improvements engineers have made in public health. In the city where I live there is no sewage system and no sewage treatment plant; tap water needs to be filtered before drinking; and there are only a handful of large garbage containers, which sometimes aren't emptied for weeks. Tons of flies live off the garbage then enter the houses and kitchens. I don't think that I have lived in a place before where infectious deceases are so common and spread so quickly. It is obvious that the lack of a proper garbage and sewage system is contributing to a public health situation that is not as good as it could be. RFK Jr. is bringing this fact back to the public eye in western society where people take clean tap water, good garbage systems, etc. for granted.