The next PANSOC webinar will be March 17 at 1600 CET. Margarida Pereira will present: “The 2020 Syndemic of Obesity and COVID-19 in an Urbanized World.”
One-hundred years after one of the largest infectious disease pandemics, the Spanish influenza, the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. As in 1918-20, the most common public health measures in 2020 to control the spread of this highly contagious disease were essentially non-pharmaceutical. The first COVID-19 outbreaks occurred in urban areas, which confirmed that these areas bring together the perfect conditions for fast dissemination of infectious diseases. Also, at an early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians and scientists observed that individuals with specific comorbidities, and namely with obesity, not only were at higher risk of contracting severe illness but also had increased odds of dying. Hence, urban areas became naturally privileged settings for the uprising of the syndemic of obesity and COVID-19.
Margarida Pereira is a Health Geographer, and her research focuses on the social determinants of health. Currently, Margarida is a postdoctoral fellow at PANSOC and is studying the syndemic relation between obesity and COVID-19 from a social science perspective.
Tamara Giles-Vernick, Institut Pasteur, will present: “Complex local vulnerabilities and the COVID-19 pandemic in France.”
Who is responsible for health during a pandemic? This long-standing question, debated widely among state and local authorities, international institutions, and health experts, has also come to fore in our Vulnerability Assessment among lay publics in France and four other European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. This presentation draws on our 177 qualitative interviews (157 Vulnerability Assessments + 20 supplementary interviews) conducted in France in 2021.
Dr. Tamara Giles-Vernick is Director of Research and Unit head of the Anthropology and Ecology of Disease Emergence Unit – the Institut Pasteur’s first social sciences research unit in its 130-year history. Dr. Giles-Vernick currently coordinates SoNAR-Global, a European Commission-funded global social sciences research network for preparedness and response to infectious threats. A specialist in the medical anthropology and history of central and west Africa, her current research focuses on COVID-19 and its consequences, as well as the emergence of zoonotic diseases and epidemics. In addition, she has published on viral hepatitis, Ebola, Buruli ulcer, the historical emergence of HIV in Africa, global health in Africa, the history of influenza pandemics, and environmental history.
If you missed David Roth’s webinar on The effects of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic on mental patients in New South Wales – Work-In-Progress, catch up here:
On 24 February at a special time (1400 CET), David Roth of the Australian National University will present in the PANSOC webinar series (email jessicad@oslomet.no if you need a link).
The effects of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic on mental patients in New South Wales – Work-In-Progress
Before the current pandemic, there has been relatively little research on the effects of the 1918-1919 pandemic on the mentally ill, even though its sequelae of persistent mental and physical afflictions among the general population have been well-established in the literature. During 1919, 180 patients in New South Wales (NSW) asylums died from influenza, a crude mortality rate of 8.4 per cent. An unknown number of patients recovered. The case notes for a major Sydney asylum, Callan Park, indicate that surviving patients may have suffered an exacerbation of their psychiatric condition, a form of ‘long flu’. The notes also show that influenza was the underlying cause of mental illness at admission in some cases. Although recording practices at Callan Park and other NSW asylums were patchy, the surviving evidence nevertheless suggests that there were significant gender differences for mortality and infection rates. The age distribution of influenza mortality and infection also appears to be somewhat different than for the general population of NSW. It did not follow the famous ‘W-shaped curve’. In this presentation, I discuss my preliminary results, and explain my methodology and its limitations. I also examine the prevention measures which were undertaken and discuss their efficacy in crowded asylum environments. The special vulnerability of mental patients in crowded asylums underlines the importance of precautionary preparations for persons under institutional care during epidemics, especially the aged, or persons with mental or physical disability. We have still not learnt this lesson with COVID.
Dr David T. Roth is a Campus Visitor at the School of History at the Australian National University. He completed a PhD thesis in July 2020 on the topic ‘Life, Death and Deliverance at Callan Park Hospital for the Insane 1877 to 1923’. He has particular interests in the mortality of the mentally ill, aged care and the history of medications at this period. His publications include ‘Chemical Restraints at Callan Park Hospital for the Insane before 1900’ in Health and History. David has contributed to the Civil Liberties Association’s submission to the Royal Commission on Aged Care. He is currently researching the effects of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic on mental patients in NSW and the efficacy of bacterial vaccines at this period.
‘Killing cockroaches with a nuclear weapon’: The Victorian Pandemic Management Bill.
On 10 February at 1600 CET, Binoy Kampmark, RMIT University Melbourne, will discuss the proposed arrogation of vast powers to the Victorian state government in Australia, the creation of what would be a permanent emergency powers regime that could be invoked at any time by the executive, irrespective of evidence of a pandemic. Dr. Kampmark will consider the attempts to amend the proposed legislation, the large protests against it, and the various arguments in pandemic governance.
Binoy Kampmark is a contributing editor to CounterPunch, Senior Lecturer in Global Studies at RMIT University, and former Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, University of Cambridge.
On Thursday, 3 February, at 1600 CET, Chinmay Tumbe, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, will present:
India and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Mortality Estimates and Correlates
India was the worst affected country in the influenza pandemic of 1918, losing more people than the global battle death toll of World War I. This paper uses a new dataset with more complete coverage than previous studies by incorporating the princely states and using the inter-censal estimation method, estimates mortality to be closer to 20 million, higher than previous estimates. It also analyses the regional variation in influenza mortality and attributes it to undernutrition linked to an acute drought preceding the influenza attack and the accompanying price surge, and compares this explanation with others provided in the literature. Finally, the talk also compares India’s 1918 experience with that of 2021, when it faced its largest shock to all-cause mortality in a century.
