Centring a critical medical anthropology of COVID-19 in global health discourse

Gamlin, Jennie; Segata, Jean; Berrio, Lina; Gibbon, Sahra; Ortega, Francisco

doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006132

Cited by 19 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 24 publications

(20 reference statements)

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“…These types of development narratives remain salient in global health work, although they have been challenged by many scholars, particularly those situated within postcolonial studies (see for instance Mbembe 2001;Escobar 2011) or critiques of cultural imperialism (Mudimbe 1988). However, even during the current COVID-19 pandemic, considerations of a future pandemic that behaves more like the one predicted (ravaging 'poor' and 'unprepared' places), continue to inform narratives and ideas around 'coloniality' (the ongoing process of colonialism) in the Global South (Gamlin et al 2021).…”

Section: Imaginaries Of Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Disease X and Africa: How a Scientific Metaphor Entered Popular Imaginaries of the Online Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sams

Grant²,

Desclaux³

et al. 2022

MAT

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In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the addition of Disease X, a hypothetical infectious threat, to its blueprint list of priority diseases. In the construction of discourse that circulated following this announcement, conceptions of Disease X intersected with representations of Africa. In our article, we share a broad strokes analysis of internet narratives about Disease X and Africa in the six months before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (July–December 2019) and during its first six months (January–June 2020). Our analysis focuses on how the scientific concept of Disease X was applied by ‘non-experts’ to make meaning from risk, uncertainty, and response. These non-experts drew in parallel upon more general representations of power, fear, and danger. This research is particularly relevant at the time of writing, as online narratives about COVID-19 vaccination are shaping vaccine anxiety throughout the world by drawing upon similar conceptions of agency and inequality. Because Disease X in Africa still looms as a perceived future threat, considering the narratives presented in this paper can provide insight into how people create meaning when faced with a scientific concept, a global health crisis, and the idea that there are other crises yet to come.

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Section: Imaginaries Of Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Disease X and Africa: How a Scientific Metaphor Entered Popular Imaginaries of the Online Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sams

Grant²,

Desclaux³

et al. 2022

MAT

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“…We situate our empirical findings with the imperative of critical medical anthropology to understand COVID-19 in view of the structural determinants of health, and the deep inscription of social inequalities in the endurance of crisis. 15 …”

Section: Data Collection From Roma and Migrant Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Considering the longer temporalities of mistrust that can accompany vaccination campaigns, we propose that principles of equitable engagement that prioritise longer-term trust-building and diversity. We depart from the cautions proposed by Gamlin et al that, ‘[i]f the pandemic is not homogeneous, our responses to it cannot be either.’ 15 …”

Section: Principles Of Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 vaccination campaigns and the production of mistrust among Roma and migrant populations in Italy

et al. 2022

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Achieving high rates of COVID-19 vaccination has become central to a return to normalcy in a post-pandemic world. Accordingly, exceptional measures, such as the regulation of immunity through vaccine passports and restrictions that distinguished between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, became a feature of vaccination campaigns in certain G7 countries. Such policies stand in tension with recent supranational European Union policies that seek to build inclusion and trust through engaging minoritised groups in vaccine campaigns. To explore this tension, we present novel ethnographic data produced with migrant and Roma communities in Italy. Our evidence suggests that under restrictive measures, many within these groups initially described as ‘vaccine hesitant’ have accepted a vaccine. Yet, rather than indicating successful civic engagement, we find that vaccine acceptance was tied to deepening mistrust in science and the state. Considering the structural socioeconomic, historical and cultural elements informing people’s vaccination choices, we propose a shift in emphasis towards equitable principles of engagement.

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“…This pathogen is but one of the protagonists of the present history of the pandemic. Knowing its nature and how it works in our bodies is fundamental, but this approach diverts attention from local factors, shaped by profound inequality and social injustice structures; seeSegata (2020);Gamlin, Segata, Gibbon, Ortega, & Berrio (2021). 20Vargha (2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chikungunya in Brazil, an Endless Epidemic

Segata¹

2022

Centaurus

Self Cite

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This article examines how chikungunya virus disease is epidemiologically and politically invisible in Brazil, unlike other diseases related to the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, such as Zika, dengue, and yellow fever. It demonstrates the intricacy of identifying the presence of chikungunya, as its effects are generally materialised in pain, which is difficult to measure and quantify, and thus is invisible to medical and state bureaucracy. As with other chronic diseases, chikungunya transforms identities and social relations among those affected. By analysing the situation in Natal, in Northeast Brazil, and considering epidemics as social, economic, and political narratives as well as biomedical phenomena, the article asks how chikungunya might end when it has not even officially started.

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Centring a critical medical anthropology of COVID-19 in global health discourse

Cited by 19 publications

References 24 publications

Disease X and Africa: How a Scientific Metaphor Entered Popular Imaginaries of the Online Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Disease X and Africa: How a Scientific Metaphor Entered Popular Imaginaries of the Online Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 vaccination campaigns and the production of mistrust among Roma and migrant populations in Italy

Chikungunya in Brazil, an Endless Epidemic

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Centring a critical medical anthropology of COVID-19 in global health discourse

Cited by 19 publications

References 24 publications

​Disease X and Africa: How a Scientific Metaphor Entered Popular Imaginaries of the Online Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic

​Disease X and Africa: How a Scientific Metaphor Entered Popular Imaginaries of the Online Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 vaccination campaigns and the production of mistrust among Roma and migrant populations in Italy

Chikungunya in Brazil, an Endless Epidemic

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Disease X and Africa: How a Scientific Metaphor Entered Popular Imaginaries of the Online Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Disease X and Africa: How a Scientific Metaphor Entered Popular Imaginaries of the Online Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic