Article ID: CBB001420418

An Uncertain Risk: The World Health Organization's Account of H1N1 (2014)

unapi

Scientific uncertainty is fundamental to the management of contemporary global risks. In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the start of the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic. This declaration signified the risk posed by the spread of the H1N1 virus, and in turn precipitated a range of actions by global public health actors. This article analyzes the WHO's public representation of risk and examines the centrality of scientific uncertainty in the case of H1N1. It argues that the WHO's risk narrative reflected the context of scientific uncertainty in which it was working. The WHO argued that it was attempting to remain faithful to the scientific evidence, and the uncertain nature of the threat. However, as a result, the WHO's public risk narrative was neither consistent nor socially robust, leading to the eventual contestation of the WHO's position by other global public health actors, most notably the Council of Europe. This illustrates both the significance of scientific uncertainty in the investigation of risk, and the difficulty for risk managing institutions in effectively acting in the face of this uncertainty.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001420418/

Similar Citations

Thesis Bresalier, M C; (cited 2010)
Transforming Flu: Medical Science and the Making of a Virus Disease in London, 1890--1939 (/isis/citation/CBB001567257/)

Article Kazanjian, Powel; (2014)
The AIDS Pandemic in Historic Perspective (/isis/citation/CBB001420763/)

Article Abeysinghe, Sudeepa; (2013)
When the Spread of Disease Becomes a Global Event: The Classification of Pandemics (/isis/citation/CBB001421163/)

Article Janakan, Gnananandan; Ellis, Harold; (2013)
Dr Thomas Aitchison Latta (c.1796--1833): Pioneer Of Intravenous Fluid Replacement in the Treatment of Cholera (/isis/citation/CBB001421950/)

Book Jacques Pépin; (2021)
The Origins of AIDS (/isis/citation/CBB084551418/)

Book Frédéric Keck; (2020)
Avian Reservoirs: Virus Hunters and Birdwatchers in Chinese Sentinel Posts (/isis/citation/CBB474416367/)

Article Porras, María Isabel; Báguena, María José; Ballester, Rosa; de las Heras, Jaime; (2012)
La Asociación Europea contra la Poliomielitis y los programas europeos de vacunación (/isis/citation/CBB001211095/)

Article Davide Orsini; James A. Ostenson; Francesco Brigo; Mariano Martini; (2023)
Pandemics and Mental Disorders: From the Thought of the 19th Century Psychiatrist Andrea Verga to long-term effects of COVID-19 (/isis/citation/CBB934514442/)

Book Jo Robertson; (2022)
The International Campaign Against Leprosy: 1948 - 2005 (/isis/citation/CBB146380609/)

Article Ortega Martos, Antonio Miguel; (2010)
¿Colonialismo biomédico o autonomía de lo local? Sanadores tradicionales contra la tuberculosis (/isis/citation/CBB001420476/)

Thesis Polu, Sandhya Lakshmi; (2009)
The Perception of Risk: Policy-Making on Infectious Disease in India (1892--1940) (/isis/citation/CBB001562846/)

Book Laurie Garrett; (1994)
The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance (/isis/citation/CBB312042746/)

Book Koch, Tom; (2011)
Disease Maps: Epidemics on the Ground (/isis/citation/CBB001250403/)

Article Sudeepa Abeysinghe; (2017)
Contesting a Pandemic: The WHO and the Council of Europe (/isis/citation/CBB979681231/)

Authors & Contributors
Abeysinghe, Sudeepa
Maria Marloth
Brigo, Francesco
Laurie Garrett
Martini, Mariano
Orsini, Davide
Concepts
Public health
Disease and diseases
Infectious diseases
Pandemics
Medicine and society
Epidemics
Time Periods
21st century
20th century, late
20th century
19th century
20th century, early
Early modern
Places
Europe
Africa
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Hong Kong
Singapore
London (England)
Institutions
World Health Organization (WHO)
Council of Europe
European Association against Poliomyelitis
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment