Does the history of the 1918 influenza pandemic provide any lessons to inform today’s debates about public health responses to pandemics? Explain your answer.

History and Health/ Influenza pandemic 1918 in India

AIM to analyse the historical record of the 1918 influenza pandemic through a case study of India, then to apply historical knowledge and concepts to the debate about pandemic responses in contemporary global health.

Objectives
• To demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the epidemiology, demography, policy responses, socio–economic effects and popular understandings of the 1918 influenza pandemic in India.
• To assess the extent to which rule by the British Empire determined India’s experience of the pandemic.
• To demonstrate ability to critically evaluate and integrate evidence from a range of primary and secondary historical sources.
• To evaluate critically the lessons of the 1918 influenza pandemic for current efforts in global health to prepare for and manage pandemics.

PART A

Read the assigned sources, then answer the following questions. All articles are also listed in full below.
A.1. Outline the main epidemiological, socio–economic and political features of the 1918 influenza pandemic in India. (30%)
A.2. To what extent was India’s experience of the 1918 influenza pandemic shaped by British colonial rule? You should refer both to its impact and the responses to it. (40%)

PART B
Does the history of the 1918 influenza pandemic provide any lessons to inform today’s debates about public health responses to pandemics? Explain your answer. (30%)