Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #InfectiousHistorians
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I was asked to provide a historical perspective on #Covid19 by @UniFreiburg's Studium generale and used the opportunity to reflect on what, if anything, we can learn from the global history of pandemics. Here’s a link to the recorded lecture (in German): videoportal.uni-freiburg.de/category/video…
Since the lecture is in German and basically the culmination of eight months of reflecting on, writing about, and debating #Covid19, I thought it might be useful to pull all my previous attempts at thinking about the pandemic historically together in one thread.
So here’s a thread of threads with links to lectures, articles, interviews, discussions. Please note: I put them in chronological order; my thinking about these issues has certainly evolved since the spring. #Covid19
It’s not grabbing the headlines, as it’s been coming for months. But this is still a disastrous decision for America and the world. I wrote and talked about the history of the World Health Organization and its relationship to the U.S. several times over the past few months 1/
In May, I wrote about Trump attacking the WHO for the @washingtonpost, why it would only exacerbate the problems that have always hampered WHO’s effectiveness, and what the history of global public health can tell us about the best way forward. 2/
I wrote an essay for @G_der_Gegenwart (in German) on the history of the WHO, the international community’s response to the threat of epidemics – and why the West needs to break out of the cycle of panic and neglect if we really care about global health. 3/
What @cmyeaton excellently describes as a "cycle of panic and neglect” is truly one of the major dynamics that have shaped global health politics since the 19th century. I have made that argument, from a historical perspective, several times since the start of the pandemic: 1/
Last week I wrote for the @washingtonpost about why Trump's attacks will only exacerbate the problems that have always hampered the WHO, and why the history of global health says we need to break out of the „cycle of panic and neglect” instead 2/
One example I mention in the piece for how the West’s relationship with global health has gone through phases of indifference occasionally interrupted by erratic spikes in attention is HIV/AIDS. 3/
