Historical epidemiology and global health history

Abstract The subdiscipline of historical epidemiology holds the promise of creating a more robust and more nuanced foundation for global public health decision-making by deepening the empirical record from which we draw lessons about past interventions. This essay draws upon historical epidemiologic...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: James Webb Jr.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz 2020-09-01
Series:História, Ciências, Saúde: Manguinhos
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-59702020000900013&tlng=en
Description
Summary:Abstract The subdiscipline of historical epidemiology holds the promise of creating a more robust and more nuanced foundation for global public health decision-making by deepening the empirical record from which we draw lessons about past interventions. This essay draws upon historical epidemiological research on three global public health campaigns to illustrate this promise: the Rockefeller Foundation’s efforts to control hookworm disease (1909-c.1930), the World Health Organization’s pilot projects for malaria eradication in tropical Africa (1950s-1960s), and the international efforts to shut down the transmission of Ebola virus disease during outbreaks in tropical Africa (1974-2019).
ISSN:1678-4758