Category: Pandemics & Society Seminars

For the seventh Pandemics & Society Seminar of our Fall 2023 series, we are pleased to welcome Dr Natalie Bennett (Newcastle University). The seminar will be held on Thursday, 2 November at the normal time (1600 CET). For attendees outside of Europe, please note that daylight savings time has ended. More information about our speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series, including the Zoom details, here.

Abstract

The effectiveness of vaccination against severe COVID-19 infection and mortality is well documented, but there are inequalities in both vaccination uptake and COVID-19 mortality. Understanding whether more equal vaccination uptake might reduce socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 mortality is necessary for planning for future pandemics. Limited evidence available suggests that COVID-19 vaccination may have reduced inequalities in mortality. However, existing studies typically employ data covering a short time series and do not explicitly model inequalities. Using national data from the first recorded deaths through to December 2022, this study investigates whether the national vaccination program in England reduced inequalities in COVID-19 mortality associated with area-level deprivation. Descriptive analyses demonstrated that, though vaccination uptake was generally high, there was a widening gap between the most and least deprived areas in England in uptake by dose. New mortality inequality gradually declined as vaccination uptake and doses increased, and remained low throughout 2022. However, cumulative mortality inequalities rapidly grew from the start of the pandemic continued to grow throughout the entire period of observation. We estimate that more equitable vaccine uptake may have reduced, but not eradicated deprivation-based inequalities. We argue that preparation for future pandemics should include a comprehensive strategy for minimising deprivation-based inequalities.

About the Speaker

Dr Natalie Bennett is an Inequalities Research Fellow in the Applied Research Collaboration for the North East and North Cumbria at Newcastle University, England. Natalie is a Social Epidemiologist and works across a variety of interdisciplinary health inequalities projects. Her primary area of research is that of geographical inequalities in health and much of her more recent work has been in applying this focus to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the sixth Pandemics & Society Seminar of our Fall 2023 series, we are pleased to welcome our colleague Uddhav Khakurel (PANSOC). The seminar will be held on Thursday, 19 October at the normal time (1600 CEST). More information about our speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series, including the Zoom details, here.

Abstract

Labrador, part of the British Empire at the time but under the control of the Dominion Government of Newfoundland, was one of the most severely affected regions in the world during the 1918 influenza pandemic, with mortality ranging from 1 to 78 percent within communities. During the time of the pandemic, healthcare needs in the southern two-thirds of Labrador were provided by the Grenfell Mission, led by Dr. Wilfred Grenfell. This study explores the role played by the Grenfell Mission during the 1918 influenza pandemic. In addition, this analysis seeks to deepen our understanding of the factors that influenced the Mission’s response during the pandemic. This study was conducted using archival and secondary sources. Historical archives were collected from the digital archives of the Memorial University of Newfoundland and Yale University between the period of 1918 to 1959. Our findings suggest that despite the long presence of the Grenfell Mission from 1893 in Labrador, it faced a formidable challenge in providing health care during the influenza pandemic. The Mission had only one doctor and two nurses for 800 square miles. Their work in Labrador was further constrained by geographical isolation, weather conditions, shortage of healthcare workers, and its relationship with the Newfoundland Government. These factors help to explain the high level of heterogeneity in mortality within communities in Labrador.

About the Speaker

Uddhav Khakurel is a master’s student at Oslo Metropolitan University and is currently working as a research assistant at the Center for Research on Pandemics & Society. He has a background in public/global health. For his master’s thesis, he is looking at the role of non-pharmaceutical interventions in the 1918 influenza pandemic in Alaska. He is particularly interested in understanding the roles played by different actors in response to the disease outbreak.

For the next Pandemics & Society Seminar of our Fall 2023 series, we are pleased to welcome Professor Francis Gealogo (Ateneo de Manila University). The seminar will be held on Thursday, 12 October at the normal time (1600 CEST). More information about our speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series, including the Zoom details, here.

Abstract

The Cholera Epidemic of 1903-05 and the 1918 influenza pandemic were one of the most virulent epidemics ever to hit the American-occupied Philippines.  The impact of the contagion was felt unevenly by the population of the islands, with some populations becoming more vulnerable to the disease compared to others.

The presentation analyzes the environmental and ecological dimensions of the spread of the disease, and the attempts by different sectors to contain the epidemic, or mitigate its impact for those already affected by the outbreak.  Specifically, the paper will assess the pandemics as experienced in prison populations, leper colonies, and military camps as examples of confined populations and rural ethnic communities, urban and suburban communities as examples of unconfined populations.  The official government actions as well as the people’s perception about the pandemics in these population types will also be analyzed in order to advance the evaluation on the social dimension in the history of this pandemic from the prism of medical and demographic history.   Finally, the paper will present the Philippine experience during the cholera and influenza pandemic and  contextualize them as part of the Philippine colonial experience under the United States.

About the Speaker

Francis A. Gealogo is Professor and former Chairman of the Department of History of Ateneo de Manila University and former Commissioner of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. He currently holds the Horacio de la Costa Professorial Chair in History at the Ateneo de Manila. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in History (cum laude), Master of Arts in History and PhD in Philippine Studies, major in History from the University of the Philippines Diliman. He was Fulbright Senior Fellow at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and was Rene Descartes Senior Fellow for the History and Philosophy of Science and the Humanities at the Utrecht University, the Netherlands. His article “The Philippines in the World of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918–19” was awarded as one of the Most Outstanding Scientific Papers of the National Academy of Science and Technology. He served as Editor of the Diliman Review and Managing Editor of Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints and served as Associate Director for Research at the Ateneo Institute of Philippine Culture. He is currently Secretary of the History of Medicine in Southeast Asia (HOMSEA); Vice President of Ibon International, and Lead Convenor of Tanggol Kasaysayan, an organization of historians, researchers, and professors of history campaigning against negative historical revisionism. His semi-regular column BALIKSAYSAY is appearing in the alternative media outfit Bulatlat.

For the fourth Pandemics & Society Seminar of our Fall 2023 series, we are pleased to welcome Professor Erik Hornung (University of Cologne). The seminar will be held on Thursday, 21 September at the normal time (1600 CEST). More information about our speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series, including the Zoom details, here.

Abstract (Working paper)

How do health crises affect election results? We combine a panel of election results from 1893–1933 with spatial heterogeneity in excess mortality due to the 1918 Influenza to assess the pandemic’s effect on voting behavior across German constituencies. Applying a dynamic differences-in-differences approach, we find that areas with higher influenza mortality saw a lasting shift towards left-wing parties. We argue that pandemic intensity increased the salience of public health policy, prompting voters to reward parties signaling competence in health issues. Alternative explanations such as pandemic-induced economic hardship, punishment of incumbents for inadequate policy responses, or polarization of the electorate towards more extremist parties are not supported by our findings.

About the Speaker

Erik Hornung is Professor of Economic History at the University of Cologne, a Research Fellow of the CESifo and CAGE, and a Research Affiliate of the CEPR. He is also Associate Editor of The Economic Journal and a member of the Editorial Boards of The Journal of Economic History and Explorations in Economic History. His research focuses on economic history and long-run development, particularly through analysis of historically important events that determine differences in development over time and space.

For the third Pandemics & Society Seminar of our Fall 2023 series, we are pleased to welcome Rebecca Main (University of Stirling). The seminar will be held on Thursday, 14 September at the normal time (1600 CEST). More information about our speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series, including the Zoom details, here.

Abstract

As one of the oldest and deadliest diseases encountered by humans, plague, caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria, provides an excellent opportunity to advance our understanding of how infectious diseases emerge, persevere, and infect humans for centuries or millennia. The talk introduces the audience to the research project and presents a case study of plague dispersal in two distantly separated regions of the Eurasian steppe – the North Caucasus and Altai-Sayan – during the period of Early Bronze Age human migrations.

About the Speaker

Alongside her positions as Research Assistant and Programme Tutor, Rebecca Main is a doctoral researcher at the University of Stirling. Her research historicises non-textual, palaeoscientific data to determine the natural forces (climate and ecological change) and human activities (mobility and migration, trade, economy, and conflict) responsible for the emergence and spread of Yersinia pestis (plague) in Neolithic and Bronze Age Eurasia. Her research interests are in all-things ancient, delving into evolutionary genetics as well as prehistoric culture, disease, demography, diet, migration, and environmental change.