Throughout this pandemic I have been acutely aware of epidemic trespassing: not wanting to weigh in on things beyond my own expertise 🧵(rant incoming)
For me this is questions of epidemiology and disease transmission which I am wholly unqualified to answer.

This has also been subject to considerable gatekeeping by some epi/clinical folks.
Yet there seems to be limited concern vice versa.

Everyone weighs in on the politics of pandemics (and more broadly the social science), as if this is a new area that no one has ever thought about before.

Tl:dr : it’s not. We’ve been working on it for years.
As someone who researches the politics of epidemics, it is disheartening when your own work becomes minimised or viewed as less important than the epi.

Despite the pertinent tools of disciplinary theory, methods and analysis which can support contemporary debates + policy
Particularly when we know diseases are spread by politics more so than the epidemiology:

that a disease is only allowed to spread as much as governments permit it to do so.

So let’s pre-empt what govs will do based on previous experience and then challenge gov accordingly
Almost every step the UK gov has taken during covid has been seen before in some form during global health policy positions / epidemics elsewhere in the world.

Yet expertise in this gets sidelined, which I believe is shortsighted.
International political analysis can reveal much about what’s happened before, current context and what likely considerations & trade-offs are being made.

Advocacy can then be pre-emptive.
Look at the headlines: it’s all politics - so why not allow space for those with expertise in this area to weigh in.

You never know, it might help!
To be very clear; this is not me gatekeeping political insight - I think everyone should speak up.

More; let’s use all skills available and ask those who have training and expertise in this (in the same way we rely on “hard science” for relevant data and analysis too!)

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More from @clarewenham

5 Jul
This shift to personal responsibility for #COVID is straight out of the (poor) epidemic response playbook. The exact same thing happened during Zika.

Government told people not to get infected thru insecticide/long sleeves, improve vector control and not to get pregnant. 1/
What then happened was that govs were then able to place responsibility onto individuals to avoid having children born with #CZS - The approach was "we've given you all the guidance, if you choose to get pregnant and not protect yourself from infection, that's your decision" 2/
The problem with this was the multiple structural barriers which prevented many people from following this guidance... affordability of insecticide, poor sanitation which meant mosquito proliferation, poor access to contraception 3/
Read 9 tweets
25 Feb
I think #vaccinepassports or #vaccinecertificates are a bad idea, and governments really need to think carefully before proceeding. They are a Pandora's Box.

Ultimately health status should not be the determinant of one's rights. A🧵
Firstly, in a pandemic intensifying all societal inequalities, we shouldnt be introducing mechanisms to further compound these. Those who are unable to get vaccinated (for health reasons, pregnant women) will be immediately discriminated against.
In the short term, this will also include younger people, leading to intergenerational tension, and indeed children who currently are not being vaccinated, and this in turn may discriminate against parents (mothers) if unable to interact in public when looking after them
Read 14 tweets
5 Jan
Lockdown 3.0 will disproportionately affect #women, and #ukgov isnt doing enough to mitigate this unequal impact.

A thread on what we know from the last year *and before 🧵
According to @ONS women did 2/3rds additional childcare duties + spent more time on unpaid work + less time on paid work than men during lockdown1.0

ONS also show that women did more non-developmental care than men (i.e. cooking, washing, not playing)
shorturl.at/gjrCY Image
Whether due to gendered work sectors, or requests owing to additional childcare: women more likely to be furloughed than men according to @WomensBudgetGrp meaning 20% income reduction

wbg.org.uk/analysis/uk-po…
Read 15 tweets
3 Jan
🚨New Year, New Paper 🚨

Remember research before #COVID19 - findings from our 3 year study on access to #abortion during #zika in Brazil, El Salvador and Colombia in press now W/ @socscimed
1/
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
We found that whilst #zika spurred abortion demand amongst individual womxn and global debate on #reproductiverights - the heath emergency didn’t change national regulation or policy change for abortion access.
2/
This was on account of the narrow policy path dependency in #globalhealthsecurity focused on epidemiology which did not consider gendered needs or the broader social effects of epidemics, combined with deeply conservative context + recent political history
3/
Read 7 tweets
27 Aug 20
The thing that makes me the most frustrated about #COVID19 (and has for many months) is the failure to learn lessons from previous outbreaks, particularly about the downstream effects of #pandemic response policy. A thread 1/
This morning @BBCr4today @TheCrick discussed disruption to non-covid #clinicaltrials ; also have seen depressing delays to #cancer detection and treatment ; and changes to routine SRH, maternity, NCD, mental health services.

This is well documented impact during #Ebola 2/
Economic disaster at macro + micro levels follow outbreaks - look at economic impact SE Asia post #SARS and W-Africa post #Ebola ... and to look at individual narratives of household financial hardships & increases in poverty (w/associated disease, kids out of school to work) 3/
Read 9 tweets
13 Jun 20
As #Brazil becomes the new epicentre of #COVID19 these are my must reads to understand the political context in which the outbreak emerged and the impact of this (a thread)
This piece by @Deisy_Ventura early on in the outbreak captures a lot of the anticipated tensions within the SUS (unified health system); between Bolsonaro, science and populism (similar in many ways to US, UK etc) - which unfortunately have become real!

americas.chathamhouse.org/article/betwee…
Equally great background to #Bolsonaro role in driving the #COVID19 spread in #Brazil - and how much of this is down to politics over public health:

@Deisy_Ventura @gabilotta

theconversation.com/brazil-jair-bo…
Read 13 tweets

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