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Thematic Workshop ‘The deep roots of persistent health inequalities: Socioeconomic and epidemiological drivers since the 19th century’
This workshop explores when, where, and under what conditions mortality rates converged during the period 1800–1950 to uncover turning points in the dynamics of mortality decline. By combining insights from (i) the dynamics of mortality change and (ii) the cross-sectional variation across social and spatial groups, we aim to understand how different interventions and social structures shaped the path toward convergence.
Turning points may have arisen from specific interventions (such as vaccination, water and sanitation reforms, or hospital expansion) or from the cumulative effects of multiple, interacting improvements in health or, more generally, in living conditions. Interventions may have been most effective where mortality was initially high, and their influence may have grown over time as people and institutions adapted. The social composition within areas, including the distribution of rich and poor households, may also have mediated these effects. Whether early gains were confined to privileged groups or diffused gradually as innovations became more accessible and affordable could be a key factor. Cause-specific mortality data may provide an additional lens to distinguish infectious from non-infectious disease trajectories and to trace how shifts in disease environments reshaped social inequalities in health.
Drawing on contributions from different cities and countries, the workshop seeks to integrate analyses of mortality dynamics and inequalities, identifying patterns that reveal the mechanisms of health improvement. Ultimately, the aim is to develop a comparative framework that explains how interventions, institutional contexts, and social conditions interacted to determine both the timing and the equity of Europe’s mortality transition.
This workshop is funded by the Radboud-Glasgow Collaboration Fund project ‘The Deep Roots of Persistent Health Inequalities: Socioeconomic and Epidemiological Drivers Since the 19th Century’, COST-Action GREATLEAP (CA22116) and the Dutch Research Council Veni project ‘Unravelling Health Inequalities. The Historical Roots of Inequality in Death and Disease in West-European Port Cities, 1850–1950’ (VI.Veni.231F.001).