Health Transitions in the Global South 2025

To date, much of the research on the health transition has focussed on Europe and North America. Thus, the experience of the health transition in the Global North is often contrasted with that of the Global South: the transition in the Global South happened later, happened more quickly and was more strongly influenced by medical innovations and global health campaigns than the transition in the Global North. While there is truth in this description, the North-South dichotomy may underemphasise the variation in the health transition within the Global South. For instance, mortality decline in the Caribbean (Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica) began in the early twentieth century and child stunting rates were far lower there than in countries with similar levels of income in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia (Riley 2005; Schneider et al. 2024). 

This workshop seeks to understand these variations within the Global South by bringing together researchers studying a wide range of contexts. By emphasising a South-South comparison (Frankema 2024), it hopes to shift our default reference from the Global North and yield insights into key questions about how the health transition varied across populations. Thus, we are seeking papers studying the following questions: 1) what explains the heterogeneity in the timing of the health transition across the Global South; 2) how did colonialism shape the health transition in the Global South; and 3) what were the main drivers of the health transition in the Global South. Studies can either include cross-country comparisons or focus on the health transition in one country or context. We also welcome both quantitative and qualitative approaches to these questions with the aim of hearing different perspectives from economic historians, development economists, historical demographers and historians of medicine and health.

Submission: Please submit a 300-500 word abstract by 3 February 2025 using the form at the following link: https://forms.gle/RaLLP7w129aKMzTe9. We will send notification of acceptance by 7 February.

Funding: The workshop is sponsored by the LSE Historical Economic Demography Group, and the Economic History Society to cover the workshop fee and meals during the workshop for all participants. Unfortunately, we are not able to cover travel or accommodation costs for the workshop.

Neil Cummins, Professor of Economic History and Co-Director of the LSE Historical Economic Demography,  (http://neilcummins.com/) 

Eric Schneider Professor of Economic History and Co-Director of the LSE Historical Economic Demography,  (https://www.ericbschneider.com/)

The programme booklet, which includes abstracts and maps, can be found here.

Day 1 – 9^th June 2025 

9.30-10.00am: Coffee, registration and welcome 

10.00-11.30am Session 1: Health Transition: Long-Run Trends
Björn Quanjer, Radboud University: Epidemiological transition theory at colonial crossroads: the case of Suriname 1903-1949
Eric Schneider, LSE: The Long-Run History of Child Stunting in India: A State-Level Analysis
Robert Stelter, University of Basel: Out of Africa: using genealogical data to assess the health impact of major historical events 

11.30am-12noon: Coffee break 

12noon-1.30pm Session 2: Geographical Perspectives
Anggi Novianti, LSE: Mortality of the 1918-1919 Influenza pandemic in Java and the drivers of disparities
Maanik Nath, Utrecht University: Railroads and Health: Evidence from Colonial India
Carolina Román, Universidad de la República (Uruguay):  Regional distribution of health conditions and the role of education in Uruguay, 1890-1970 

1.30-2.30pm: Lunch 

2.30-4.00pm Session 3: Sexual and Reproductive Health
Shane Doyle, University of Leeds: Maternal Mortality from the Local to the Global
Ivana Zečević, University of Groningen:  Medicalization of reproductive health in Villa Maria and Mua Mission Hospitals, 1900s-1980s
Meiping Aggie Sun, Fordham University: Long-Term and Multi-Generational Benefits of Skilled Birth Attendance 

4.00-4.30pm: Coffee break 

4.30-5.30pm Session 4: Colonial Medicine
Grietjie Verhoef, University of Johannesburg: Modern health care, modern hospitals in Africa. A historical perspective on health care developments in the Global South, with a focus on African hospitals.
Jutta Bolt, University of Groningen: Geographies of Healing: The Long-Term Impact of Colonial-Era Healthcare Facilities in British Africa 

5.30-6.30pm Drinks at local pub
7.00pm Dinner, Cinnamon Bazaar 

Day 2 – 10^th June 2025

10.00-11.30am Session 5: Gender and the Health Transition
Astrid Krenz, LSE: Male Excess Mortality During the Epidemiological Transition: Theory and Evidence from India
Wen Su, University of Oxford: The Burden of HIV and Life Expectancy Sex Gap:  Evidence from rural South Africa amid AIDS epidemic, 1994-2022
Juliana Jaramillo Echeverri (Eric Schneider), LSE: Gender disparities in Global Child Stunting 

11.30-12.00noon: Coffee break 

12noon-1.30pm Session 6: Rockefeller Foundation Health Campaigns
Daniel W Franken, University of Groningen: Tropical Disease, Rural Health Campaigns, and Heights in Early-Twentieth-Century Brazil
Leigh Gardner, LSE: A rocky start? Colonialism, state capacity and the impact of Rockefeller Foundation public health programmes in Africa
Eric Strobl, University of Bern: The Public Hookworm Campaign and Mortality in early 20th Century Colonial Jamaica 

1.30-2.30pm: Lunch 

2.30-4.00pm Session 7: Inequality in Mortality
Nick Fitzhenry, LSE: Mortality in the Century of Apartheid, 1940-1970: Spatial and racial health inequalities during the Antibiotic Revolution
Dinos Sevdalakis, University of Groningen: Infant mortality decline in urban Senegal: The case of colonial Saint-Louis, 1880- 1921
Johan Fourie, Stellenbosch University: Inequality in infant mortality: Evidence from a South African town, 1900-1930 

4.00pm:  Reception, 8^th Floor Terrace, Marshall Building