Pandemic preparedness: why humanities and social sciences matter

Sally Frampton; Kingsley Orievulu; Philippa C. Matthews; Alberto Giubilini; Joshua Hordern; Lizzie Burns; Sean Elias; Ethan Friederich; Nomathamsanqa Majozi; Sam Martin; Austin Stevenson; Samantha Vanderslott; Janet Seeley

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1394569

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Pandemic preparedness: why humanities and social sciences matter

Authors

Frampton, Sally¹
Orievulu, Kingsley^{2, 3, 4}
Matthews, Philippa C.^{5, 6, 7, 8}
Giubilini, Alberto⁹
Hordern, Joshua¹⁰
Burns, Lizzie¹¹
Elias, Sean¹²
Friederich, Ethan¹³
Majozi, Nomathamsanqa²
Martin, Sam^{14, 15}
Stevenson, Austin¹⁶
Vanderslott, Samantha¹⁴
Seeley, Janet^{2, 17}

¹ Faculty of History, University of Oxford, Oxford , (United Kingdom)
² Africa Health Research Institute, Durban , (South Africa)
³ Centre for China-Africa Studies, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg , (South Africa)
⁴ School of Nursing and Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban , (South Africa)
⁵ The Francis Crick Institute, London , (United Kingdom)
⁶ Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London , (United Kingdom)
⁷ Department of Infectious Diseases, University College London Hospital, London , (United Kingdom)
⁸ Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford , (United Kingdom)
⁹ Uehiro Oxford Institute, Humanities Division, University of Oxford, Oxford , (United Kingdom)
¹⁰ Faculty of Theology of Religion, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford, Oxford , (United Kingdom)
¹¹ Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, Oxford , (United Kingdom)
¹² Pandemic Sciences Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford , (United Kingdom)
¹³ Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, Ethox Centre and Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology, University of Oxford, Oxford , (United Kingdom)
¹⁴ Oxford Vaccine Group, University of Oxford and NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford , (United Kingdom)
¹⁵ Rapid Research Evaluation and Appraisal Lab (RREAL), Department of Targeted Intervention, University College London (UCL), London , (United Kingdom)
¹⁶ School of Ministry, Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, FL , (United States)
¹⁷ Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London , (United Kingdom)

Type

Published Article

Journal

Frontiers in Public Health

Publisher

Frontiers Media SA

Publication Date

Aug 16, 2024

Volume

12

Identifiers

DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1394569

Source

Frontiers

Keywords

Disciplines

Public Health
Perspective

License

Green

Abstract

Whilst many lessons were learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing reflection is needed to develop and maintain preparedness for future outbreaks. Within the field of infectious disease and public health there remain silos and hierarchies in interdisciplinary work, with the risk that humanities and social sciences remain on the epistemological peripheries. However, these disciplines offer insights, expertise and tools that contribute to understanding responses to disease and uptake of interventions for prevention and treatment. In this Perspective, using examples from our own cross-disciplinary research and engagement programme on vaccine hesitancy in South Africa and the United Kingdom (UK), we propose closer integration of expertise, research and methods from humanities and social sciences into pandemic preparedness.

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