Pandemics, Science and Policy H1N1 and the World Health Organisation

Pandemics, Science and Policy examines the case study of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) representation and management of the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic. It analyses key criticisms made about the WHO's actions through an examination of the social context in which pandemic management decisions were made, and ultimately illustrations the various ways in which the WHO's account was vulnerable to contestation.

Abeysinghe provides a persuasive account of the interplay between uncertain science and the creation of global policy. The book demonstrates that the fragility of the WHO's account and decisions largely lay in both the (lack of) scientific evidence the WHO received, and its use and representation of this evidence. Importantly, it shows how uncertain risks can affect policy and action on the global level.

Sudeepa Abeysinghe is a Lecturer in Global Health Policy in the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, UK.

1. Introduction

2. Narrating the Nature of H1N1

3. Risk and Scientific Uncertainty

4. Categorising H1N1

5. Vaccines, Institutions and Pandemic Management

6. Contestation and the Council of Europe

7. Globalisation and the Global Public Health Paradigm

8. Conclusion