Editing Catherine the Great (section)

===Public health===
Catherine made public health a priority. She made use of the social theory ideas of German [[cameralism]] and French [[physiocracy]], as well as Russian precedents and experiments such as [[Foundling hospital|foundling homes]]. In 1764, she launched the [[Moscow Orphanage|Moscow Foundling Home]] and lying-in hospital. In 1763, she opened Paul's Hospital, also known as Pavlovskaya Hospital. She had the government collect and publish vital statistics. In 1762, she called on the army to upgrade its medical services. She established a centralised medical administration charged with initiating vigorous health policies. Catherine decided to have herself inoculated against smallpox by English doctor [[Thomas Dimsdale]]. While this was considered a controversial method at the time, she succeeded. Her son Pavel later was inoculated as well.<ref name="Griffiths 1984 14–16">{{cite journal |pmc=5077001 |year=1984 |last=Griffiths |first=J. |title=Doctor Thomas Dimsdale, and Smallpox in Russia: The Variolation of the Empress Catherine the Great |journal=Bristol Medico-Chirurgical Journal |volume=99 |issue=1 |pages=14–16 |pmid=6367898}}</ref>

Catherine then sought to have inoculations throughout her empire and stated: "My objective was, through my example, to save from death the multitude of my subjects who, not knowing the value of this technique, and frightened of it, were left in danger".<ref name="Griffiths 1984 14–16"/> By 1800, approximately 2&nbsp;million inoculations (almost 6% of the population) were administered in the Russian Empire. Historians consider her efforts to be a success and one of the great achievements, she has done to [[Russia]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=John T. |last=Alexander |title=Catherine the Great and public health |journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences |volume=36 |issue=2 |year=1981 |pages=185–204 |doi=10.1093/jhmas/XXXVI.2.185 |pmid=7012231 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/XXXVI.2.185| issn=0022-5045 }}</ref>