By 1889, approximately how many lives were saved by Dr Paine's efforts to keep Cardiff free from disease?

• A. 10,000
• B. 15,000
• C. 20,000
• D. 5,000

Answer: (B)

Public health work shows its value in the number of lives it saves by preventing disease. Dr Paine in Cardiff led efforts to improve sanitation, water quality, and general disease control, which dramatically reduced deaths from infectious illnesses. By 1889, historians estimate that these coordinated measures had saved around fifteen thousand lives in the city. That figure reflects the scale of impact you’d expect from a major urban sanitation push for a population of Cardiff’s size in that era. The other numbers would imply a smaller or even unrealistically large effect for the period and city, so fifteen thousand is the best-fit estimate for the outcome of Paine’s campaigns.