Smallpox vaccination in 19th-century Finland: lessons from a vaccine mandate
In historical Finland, the vaccination law succeeded in improving smallpox vaccine uptake despite high hesitancy among the public.
Medical progress and health inequality: penicillin in Italy
This post argues that the introduction of penicillin in post-war Italy led to lower levels of regional health inequality.
Tea Drinking Curbed Mortality Rates in England
The introduction of tea in 18th century England resulted in an increase in consumption of boiled water, thereby reducing mortality rates.
Socioeconomic Health Inequalities are a Matter of Human Rights
Human rights are an authoritative moral and legal framework that can be used by governments to reduce socioeconomic health inequalities
Missing Women in Colonial India
This post presents patterns of missing women in Colonial India. Male-biased sex ratios emerge most visibly after age 10.
Living in an Interwar World: Communicable Disease and Epidemic Information
This article traces the origins of the current system of global health information and the foundations of current communications problems.
Health progress and inequality: the first year of LRHM
Long Run Health Matters is one year old! This post puts together the research summaries published during the last year.
Seasonality in the Age of Pandemics, 1817-1920
Asia particularly suffered from the cholera, plague and influenza pandemics between 1817 and 1920. This piece highlights the various ways in which ‘seasonality’ mattered in those three pandemics.
The 1918 flu pandemic left Spain a more unequal country
Pandemics are often considered “big levelers” events. We show that the Spanish Flu, one of the deadliest pandemics in history, doesn’t fit this narrative in Spain, which became more unequal.
The drivers of institutionalization among the elderly in Europe
Will future increases in life expectancy improve life quality? If we consider the elderly, this is unclear, especially among permanently institutionalized individuals, whose quality of life is often worse.
