The COVID-19 pandemic is a rare event in its scale and spread. But in responding to it, people have been looking at lessons from other outbreaks of infectious disease. What…
Five lessons from past global influenza outbreaks for COVID-19
Podcast: The Social Dynamics of Pandemics
The global pandemic Covid-19 is impacting people in many and varied ways. The effects on all our lives are immense and diverse, from rural and urban communities, young and old,…
Post-normal pandemics: Why COVID-19 requires a new approach to science
Guest post by David Waltner-Toews1, Annibale Biggeri2, Bruna De Marchi3, Silvio Funtowicz3, Mario Giampietro4,5, Martin O’Connor6,7, Jerome R. Ravetz8, Andrea Saltelli3,9 and Jeroen P. van der Sluijs3,10 READ THIS ARTICLE…
Science, uncertainty and the COVID-19 response
One of the abiding images of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the UK has been the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, looking nervous and uncomfortable, flanked by his scientific advisors at…
Learning from crises: state-citizen relations in the time of cholera
The cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe in 2008 was the worst ever recorded in Africa. There were nearly 100,000 infections and some 4,300 deaths. The disease swept through the crowded urban…
Preparing for pandemics and the role of uncertainty explored in new project
The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) has announced a new project funded by the Wellcome Trust: Pandemic Preparedness: local and global concepts and practices in tackling disease threats in Africa….
Freebook: Pathways to Health and Sustainability
The second in a series of FreeBooks from Routledge, Pathways to Health and Sustainability, is available to download free of charge. Download the book The FreeBooks allow open access, for…
The social life of infectious diseases: a new impact story from STEPS
A new multimedia story, ‘The social life of infectious diseases’ is the first in a new series of impact stories from the STEPS Centre. It traces how our thinking on…
How to prevent epidemics: an optimist’s blog
“The optimist is someone who believes the future is uncertain.” Leo Szilard When I first studied epidemiology several decades ago, a story made the rounds that was supposed…
El Niño predictions signal urgent need to prepare for Rift Valley fever epidemics in eastern Africa
Recent climate predictions suggest East Africa may be in line for an epidemic of Rift Valley fever (RVF) – an infectious disease which can hit people, their livestock and livelihoods,…