2026/03/01 by Melissa Leach, Hayley MacGregor, Melissa Parker
Medicine · Social Sciences · #African cultural and philosophical studies #Global Health and Surgery #Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
paper · doi:10.1017/s0021932026100571
crossref issued 2026/03/01 · crossref published 2026/03/01 · crossref published-print 2026/03/01 · openalex publication_date 2026/03/01 · crossref published-online 2026/05/13 · crossref created 2026/05/13 · openalex created_date 2026/05/14 · crossref deposited 2026/05/29 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
What can be learned about pandemic preparedness from greater attention to perspectives of people who live in regions labelled as 'hotspots' for disease outbreaks? And how might such attention require us to reconfigure science, policy, and practice - as part of a broader shifting of power in pandemics? These are the questions that motivate and are explored through the papers in this special issue on pandemic preparedness, for which this paper serves as Introduction. All the contributions to this special issue present perspectives, experiences, and reflections from African settings, drawing on research co-designed and conducted in close engagement with local communities or in dialogue with African scientists and public health actors. They approach biosocial questions from the concerns of the disciplinary fields of social, medical, and political anthropology, of engaged interdisciplinary social science, and, crucially, of embedded, 'grassroots' fieldwork by researchers who have grown up with the communities they are studying. The team bringing these complementary areas of expertise came together for a collaborative programme on 'Pandemic preparedness: local and global concepts and practices in tackling disease threats in Africa' supported by a collaborative award from the Wellcome Trust during 2018-2023. This special issue thus forms part of wider advocacy for rethinking pandemic preparedness and for the value of anthropology in informing its meanings and practices, now more than ever.