Thematic Workshop: How did we lift the burden? Infectious Disease Mortality in the Western and Non-Western World (1800-now)

The history of infectious disease mortality is far from over, neither in the western world nor the non-western world. Yet, the steep increases in life expectancy since the 19^th century in the western world were the result of overcoming (non-)epidemic infectious diseases. These massive reductions of mortality due to diseases such as diphtheria, scarlet fever, tuberculosis and whooping cough, began before the introduction of modern curative medicine after the 1940s.  This presents an important explanatory challenge for historians and historical demographers: what drove this important change in mortality and life expectancy and how did it come about? What explanatory factors can help us understand the great leaps forward? In addition, in order to elucidate the driving factors in this process we also need to have a good understanding of the epidemiological profile of the transformation process. Which diseases were driving the decline in mortality, and which diseases were impervious to improvement before the 1940s and how can that be explained? The epidemiological transition was  a complex and dynamic process which did not happen everywhere at the same time or in the same way. Time, place and socio-economic dynamics could differ within smaller regions or countries, or for that matter, even within a single city or town. How can we use these characteristics to say anything about the driving forces behind the epidemiological transition? And how did the experiences compare between the frontrunners in the epidemiological transition, such as the Scandinavian countries and England,  and those who came later?

Mortality and health are always, not only in the nineteenth century, the outcomes of complex and multi-causal processes. In this historic extension of life expectancy beyond age 30-40 many factors have played a role, ranging from increased personal hygiene, public health policies, higher incomes, improved nutrition, reduced exposure to infectious diseases, behavioural change, infant feeding practices, and improved education for the majority of the population. How did these factors interact and enhance each other? In recent years there has been a particular stress on sanitary interventions, such as piped water and sewerage. However, reduced infant mortality levels can often not be linked to the instalment of piped water, moreover, mortality often declined before these sanitary innovations became available. Hence, the debate continues. We would like to encourage paper authors to contribute to the debate in this international conference. 

We welcome all sorts of contributions, theoretical, empirical and methodological. In particular, we welcome papers from areas and regions of Europe and the world that not belong to the so-called frontrunners in mortality decline in the north-western part of Europe. 

The conference is organized by the COST-Action network GREATLEAP, in collaboration with the Radboud University Nijmegen, the HiDo network, and the IUSSP Panel ‘Epidemics and Contagious Diseases: The Legacy of the Past’. The conference serves as a closing event of the NWO-funded research project Lifting the burden of disease. The modernisation of health in the Netherlands: Amsterdam, 1854-1926. It also marks the end of the academic career of professor Angélique Janssens, who directed this research project. The conference will therefore be concluded by a farewell reception.

Applications should contain an abstract (500-600 words) as well as a title, and the names of all authors involved. Deadline: 31^st March 2025. Please submit your application via the form.