Rethinking Disease Preparedness: Incertitude and the Politics of Knowledge

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Date
2021-02-24Author
Leach, Melissa
MacGregor, Hayley
Ripoll, Santiago
Scoones, Ian
Wilkinson, Annie
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Abstract
This paper argues for a rethinking of disease preparedness that puts incertitude and the politics of knowledge at the centre. Through examining the
experiences of Ebola, Nipah, cholera and COVID-19 across multiple settings,
the limitations of current approaches are highlighted. Conventional
approaches assume a controllable, predictable future, which is responded
to by a range of standard interventions. Such emergency preparedness
planning approaches assume risk – where future outcomes can be predicted –
and fail to address uncertainty, ambiguity and ignorance – where outcomes
or their probabilities are unknown. Through examining the experiences of
outbreak planning and response across the four cases, the paper argues for
an approach that highlights the politics of knowledge, the constructions of
time and space, the requirements for institutions and administrations and the
challenges of ethics and justice. Embracing incertitude in disease preparedness responses therefore means making contextual social, political and cultural dimensions central.
Citation
Leach, M.; MacGregor, H.; Ripoll, S.; Scoones, I. and Wilkinson, A. (2021) Rethinking Disease Preparedness: Incertitude and the Politics of Knowledge, Critical Public Health, doi: 10.4135/9781446221983.n3DOI
10.1080/09581596.2021.1885628Is part of series
Critical Public Health;More details
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