History Informing Public Health Preparedness Policy in the 21st Century: A Qualitative Study of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions and Community Experiences during the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic

Award Year: 2007	Investigator: Howard Markel, Alexandra Minna Stern	Budget: $335,000	Categories: History of Medicine and Public Health, Public Health Strategies
Abstract: The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 was the deadliest contagious calamity in human history, killing 650,000 people in the United States and 50 million worldwide. But the pandemic's effects varied geographically - some communities were devastated while others suffered few if any deaths. To learn why, Howard Markel, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.A.P. and Alexandra Minna Stern, Ph.D., conduct a comprehensive review of the strategies used by 43 U.S. cities during the 1918-1919 flu epidemic. Markel and Stern examine such public health measures as isolation of the ill, quarantines on those suspected of contact with the ill, school closures, and bans on public gatherings. They also analyze the cities' demographic and housing characteristics, morbidity and mortality patterns, political leadership and coordination among government agencies, supply of health care facilities and medical personnel, and compliance with public health measures. Their project, History Informing Public Health Preparedness Policy in the 21st Century: A Qualitative Study of NonPharmaceutical Interventions and Community Experiences during the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic, aims to extract lessons that can inform public health policymaking and preparedness planning today.