[Historical development of health reporting on the community level--an academic void]

In the literature health reporting is often placed within the context of new public health. By doing so, health reporting is viewed as a historically new development distinct from the "old" medical statistics. This point of view, however, only holds true with a view to the medical statistics of the German postwar period in the 20th century. There is also a forgotten health reporting enrooted in the so-called "medical topographies" with a history reaching back more than 200 years. Part of this latter tradition are the Bavarian medical district reports ("Physikatsberichte") from the 19th century. These reports depicted the way of life and state of health of a population in combination with a social medical analysis with a strong action orientation. The demise of these forms of health reports began with the advent of bacteriology.