What kind of education will tend to diminish disease?

The study of diseases, what they are in danger of doing, what they can be prevented from doing, the discovered and as yet undiscovered methods of wiping them out, is so fascinating that one might engage in it as an interesting hobby. But, interesting as it would be for a hobby, I have better reasons for trying to find out what kind of education will tend to diminish disease. The purpose of this study, though made from the American point of view, is the compilation of elementary knowledge that can be applied in primary - through kindergarten to junior high school - educational work in China where unsanitary and unhygienic conditions and diseases are met at every corner and where life is cheap and undervalued. Education ought, also, to teach that it is wholly unnecessary for so many Chinese babies to die before they are five years of age; and not only to teach that it is unnecessary and preventable but to give methods of prevention simple enough for the lowliest to understand and practice. There are spots in China where much has been one but even the best spots are far from bright and all of China is a fertile field for more intensive health work. For years there has been an intelligent attempt to meet the problem of health education in the United States, as evidenced by the work of public health nurses, physicians, clinics, organized charities, high school and college wealth education, and work done through community, county, state, and national health committees, commissions, and bureaus, but in spite of all that has been accomplished there is yet much to be desired even in communities that have highest health records.