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Logo of the World Health Organization.

Trump, WHO, and Half a Century of Global Health Austerity

Any attempt to revive solidarity between rich and poor nations must begin by recapturing the commitment to social and economic rights that inspired the WHO.
by Michael Brenes, Michael Franczak via Boston Review on May 4, 2020

Why Humanity Will Probably Botch the Next Pandemic, Too

A conversation with Mike Davis about what must be done to combat the COVID-19 pandemic – and all the other monsters still to come.
by Mike Davis, Eric Levitz via Intelligencer on April 30, 2020
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Coronavirus: Lessons From Past Epidemics

Dr. Larry Brilliant, who helped eradicate smallpox, says past epidemics can teach us to fight coronavirus.
via Retro Report on March 20, 2020
Rahima Banu
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Coronavirus: Lessons From Past Epidemics

Dr. Larry Brilliant, who helped eradicate smallpox, says past epidemics can teach us to fight coronavirus.
via Retro Report on March 19, 2020
Virus seen through a microscope.

How Pandemics Change History

The historian Frank M. Snowden discusses the politics of restricting travel during epidemics and more.
by Frank M. Snowden, Isaac Chotiner via The New Yorker on March 3, 2020
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The Real Reason the Trump Administration Went to War Over Breast-Feeding

On breast-feeding, Trump is following the Reagan formula.
by Paul Adler via Made By History on July 11, 2018
AIDS Memorial Quilt on display on the Mall in Washington, DC in 1987.

'We Need a Day.' Meet the Man Who Helped Create World AIDS Day

A conversation with the man behind World AIDS Day.
by Jim Bunn, Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on November 30, 2017

Pox on Your Narrative: Writing Disease Control into Cold War History

How does the global effort to eradicate smallpox fit into the history of U.S.-Soviet relations?
by Erez Manela via Diplomatic History on March 5, 2010
Glass of wine spilling.

The Great Alcohol Health Flip-Flop Isn’t That Hard to Understand—If You Know Who Was Behind It

More than 30 years ago, the "French paradox" got America bleary-eyed.
by Tim Requarth via Slate on April 23, 2023
On August 8, 2022, activists protest the lack of monkeypox vaccine and treatment access outside the San Francisco Federal Building.

What the AIDS Crisis Can Teach Us About Monkeypox

Harm reduction strategies, like those pioneered by queer men of color, have the best chance of stopping this disease.
by Joshua Gutterman Tranen via Boston Review on October 3, 2022
Moscow COVID-19 vaccination center
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The U.S. and Russia Could Join Forces to Get People Vaccinated. They Did Before.

The forgotten history of Soviet-American vaccine diplomacy.
by Yana Demeshko, Ruth Gabor, Ivan Grek, Kristen Ho via Made By History on September 1, 2021
Vaccinations in Senegal
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Sending Vaccines to African Nations is Crucial. But They’re Rightly Wary About Foreign Medical Aid.

How medical humanitarianism helped facilitate exploitation of Africa.
by Gregg Mitman via Made By History on August 13, 2021
Colorful vaccination graphic

Long, Strange TRIPS: The Grubby History of How Vaccines Became Intellectual Property

Not long ago, life-saving medical know-how was viewed as belonging to everyone. What happened?
by Alexander Zaitchik via The New Republic on June 1, 2021
box of matches with faces drawn on the match sticks

Burnout: Modern Affliction or Human Condition?

As a diagnosis, it’s too vague to be helpful—but its rise tells us a lot about the way we work.
by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on May 17, 2021
Syringes with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on a table
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Having Vaccines Alone Isn’t Enough to Defeat Covid-19

Distributing them equally is key to defeating the coronavirus.
by Joyce Chaplin via Made By History on February 23, 2021
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We’re Catching More Diseases From Wild Animals, and It’s Our Fault.

Scientists explain how viruses, like Covid-19, spill over from animals to people, and what we must do to stop the next pandemic.
via Retro Report on January 27, 2021
One man in white surgical coat and cap examines a cow in an enclosed pen.
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The Idea of Herd Immunity to Manage the Coronavirus Should Ring Alarm Bells

The Trump administration reportedly could be taking us down a dangerous path.
by Rebecca Kaplan via Made By History on October 30, 2020
A map of the origins of illnesses across the world.

The Name Blame Game

A history of inflammatory illness epithets.
by Haisam Hussein via Lapham’s Quarterly on September 14, 2020
A graphic depicting covid-19 with a plane on top of it.

Emerging Diseases, Re-Emerging Histories

The diseases that prove best suited to global expansion are those that best exploit humans' global networks and behaviors in a given age.
by Monica H. Green via Centaurus on July 27, 2020
Asian-Americans protesting COVID-19-related racism in San Francisco's Chinatown
partner

Xenophobia in the Age of COVID-19

Scapegoating immigrant groups in times of disease outbreak has a long history.
via Retro Report on March 30, 2020

How the 1957 Flu Pandemic Was Stopped Early in Its Path

Dr. Maurice Hilleman caught the 1957 flu when even the military and WHO couldn't.
by Becky Little via HISTORY on March 18, 2020

‘A Once-in-a-Century Pathogen’: The 1918 Pandemic & This One

What we can learn from the Spanish flu.
by Mark Honigsbaum via New York Review of Books on March 17, 2020
Four people looking at a latrine

The Paradise of the Latrine

American toilet-building and the continuities of colonial and postcolonial development.
by Simon Toner via Modern American History on November 29, 2019

Whose Milk? Changing US Attitudes toward Maternal Breastfeeding

Current debates about breastfeeding highlight the political nature of changing cultural norms about motherhood.
by Kimberly B. Sherman via Nursing Clio on September 19, 2018

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