Cycle 'Public Health, Communication and History: The Challenges of a Pandemic'

The ongoing pandemic has literally left us perplexed and shocked and forces us to engage in a profound reflection that we cannot shy away from in terms of our professional commitment and public interest. Why was the outbreak in China so long seen as a remote and isolated event? How could our (over)aware societies have spread fear and, at the same time, do so little until the threat was already too evident? Are nation states the right bodies to face and manage this kind of crisis? Are we witnessing the end of a certain (unsustainable) way of life or will this episode finally be no more than a transitory cloud that will disappear when everything seems to be over? What can a historical perspective that goes beyond solipsistic scholarship and aims to provide clues for an anguished present and an even more uncertain future provide us with?

With the participation of a renowned group of specialists in public health, communication and the history of medicine and science, this cycle will attempt to address these and other issues around the challenges of a pandemic in the face of which, at this time, we are only offered the illusion of a "new normality".

Wednesday 20 May 2020 at 6 p.m. Colloquium "Las lecciones de una pandemia" (Spanish for The lessons of a pandemic).

With Ildefonso Hernández, professor at the University Miguel Hernández d'Elx and former Director General of Public Health of the Spanish Government (2008-2011), and the professors and historians of medicine Josep Lluís Barona (Universitat de València) and Enrique Perdiguero (University Miguel Hernández d'Elx), both members of the López Piñero Inter-university Institute.

Link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/09f07a0f051b4d6d971186dc6baadedd