From Ports to the World: The Health Diplomacy of Infectious Diseases along the Road to Global Health

Join us for this History Work-In-Progress seminar with Giacomo Simoncelli, PhD candidate.

1883 illustration showing a skeleton with a sycthe on the mast of a ship

By the mid-19th century, the world was already connected from one end to the other by colonial empires and growing international trade. People and goods also brought with them various pathogens, changing the very perception of the pandemic threat. It was cholera in particular that was the main concern at the time, prompting the various countries to make an effort of international collaboration on health: this is where Global Health has its roots.

In this seminar we will retrace the history of the developments just mentioned, enriching the existing bibliography with the analysis of some documents from the WHO, the Wellcome Collection and the British Foreign Office, through which it is possible to observe Western choices regarding global health policies.
 


Contact us

Dr Alys Beverton

abeverton@brookes.ac.uk