The next EAHMH conference will be in Lisbon, Portugal, 4-7 September 2013. 

The conference will be on the theme of 'Risk and Disaster in Health and Medicine' and it will be co-organised by the Universities of Evora and Lisbon.

Presentation

Risks and disasters have always been central issues in health and medicine. They illuminate the interfaces between science, medicine, environment, economy, society, culture and politics. Responses to preventive measures have often reflected tensions between the perceived wider social and economic benefits of interventions and the short-term costs imposed on individuals, specific social groups or society at large. One issue raised by such tensions has been whether individual freedom is deemed less important than the health of the community. Threats of epidemics have provoked local, national and international agencies to adopt drastic measures, consciously balancing the risk of disease against the economic risks posed by the disruption of trade or the implementation of expensive sanitary or environmental-protection measures whose cost effectiveness was difficult to foresee.

The strategies developed to cope with risk and disaster form the core of public health and medical philosophy, ranging from quarantines and vaccinations to screening programmes and high-tech medical monitoring. Yet there are distinct national and chronological differences in definitions, perceptions and representation of risks and dangers. They also vary according to the decision makers and broader publics: governments, medical professionals and other agencies, and different social classes, ethnic and gender groups.

We invite papers on all aspects of risk and disaster in the history of health and medicine, including its changing definition and the movement towards its quantification, covering epidemics, infectious and chronic disease, injuries and mental health. The articulation between personal risk, diagnosis and prognosis throughout history and health risks affecting communities of all sizes is, we believe, a key issue. We encourage contributions treating national and chronological differences and shifts in the definitions, perceptions and representation of risks and dangers, considered globally and according to race and ethnicity, gender, class, and professional status.

We also invite proposals considering the management of risk, issues of vulnerability and anxiety, as well as the role of disaster management and humanitarian interventions on the part of a range of agencies and historical actors. Submissions relating to all historical periods and all regions are welcome, as are submissions from non-members.

The Lisbon Conference will have special sessions on the ‘History of Medicine on Display’, covering museology and the history of medicine and health as well as other practices of displaying the history of medicine to the public.

Submit an abstract

Please submit all proposals for papers and sessions http://www.eahmhconference2013.uevora.pt/ no later than 1 December 2012.

To submit an abstract, please go to this link: https://sge.uevora.pt/users/login You will need to create an account.

Abstracts should not exceed one page and should include information on the scientific question examined, sources and approach.

Abstracts must contain a title, four key words and relevant information on the speaker (name, affiliation, address, email address). In addition to single-paper proposals, the Scientific Board welcomes proposals for sessions including three or four papers (though these will be judged on their individual merits).

For more information, go to http://www.eahmh.net/.

The European Association for the History of Medicine and Health (EAHMH) 

The EAHMH aims to foster research and the international exchange of views on all issues concerning health and medicine in Europe and their connections with the extra-European world.

Membership is open to scholars from a range of academic disciplines and countries. One of our key activities is organizing an international conference on the history of medicine and health. This is held every two years in a different European city.

Scientific Board Members

President

Laurinda Abreu Evora Portugal laurinda.abreu@mail.telepac.pt

Past-President

Frank Huisman Utrecht and Maastricht The Netherlands f.g.huisman-3@umcutrecht.nl

Chairperson

Fernando Salmon Cantabria Spain salmonr@unican.es

Secretary

Alex Mold London Great Britain alex.mold@lshtm.ac.uk

Treasurer

Jonathan Simon Lyon Francezxzsimon@yahoo.com

Members

• Astri Andresen, Bergen (Norway)
• Iris Borowy, Rostock (Germany)
• Anne Hardy, London (Great Britain)
• Hilary Marland, Warwick (Great Britain)
• Heiner Fangerau, Ulm (Germany)