ABSTRACT:
This article seeks to highlight John Wesley’s commitment to provide health care for the poor. The paucity of health care for the poor was due to several factors, including the scarcity of health care practitioners, hospitals open to upper class or select individuals in particular locations, and the high cost of medicines. This grim picture was compounded by the fact that individuals lacking the necessities of life faced the daily challenge of living out healthy lifestyles. The genius of Wesley is that he took concrete steps to address the issues common to health care in eighteenth-century England. He established a visitation program for the poor followed by his dispensing of medicines to them. In his preface to Primitive Physic, he urged his readers to commit to simple remedies over compound medicines. He also instructed his readers to pursue a life of sensible regimen, a theme constant throughout his ministry.
