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SUMMARY:Unsocial Medicine: exploring intersections between livestock healt
 h epidemiology and local knowledge networks - Dr Alex Tasker\, Embedded Sc
 ientist at UK Government International Joint Comparisons Unit\; Teaching F
 ellow in Human Ecology/Health and Environment\, Dept of Anthropology\,  Un
 iversity College London
DTSTART:20201104T160000Z
DTEND:20201104T170000Z
UID:TALK150586@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Fiona Roby
DESCRIPTION:Communities across the globe understand health and disease thr
 ough complex networks of social and cultural connections. Historically\, r
 esearchers and politicians have often used the rejection of state health s
 ystems by those living at the margins of state- and development control as
  backward and intransient\; recent work has challenged this view by showin
 g how many groups navigate rich networks of indigenous and external knowle
 dge outside of formal programming. This seminar presents a case study arou
 nd pastoralist animal health to explore hidden interactions between indige
 nous\, state\, and development health knowledge networks to show how infor
 mal interactions and emerging technologies can drive the creation of hybri
 d forms of health knowledge.\n\nEffective livestock disease monitoring in 
 hard-to-reach or seldom-heard populations continues to challenge epidemiol
 ogists across the globe. The marginal position of these communities at the
  edges of state- and international animal health systems act as both barri
 ers to conventional disease reporting tools and drivers of emerging diseas
 es. Technological progress in diagnostics and data handling have made sign
 ificant contributions to our understanding of livestock disease processes\
 , however the utility of these tools in marginalised communities most vuln
 erable to livestock disease are often constrained by ineffective identific
 ation and reporting systems. One response from the international community
  has been the development of Participatory Epidemiological (PE) approaches
  to establish community-level surveillance. Despite notable successes\, ma
 ny PE projects continue to overlook indigenous disease knowledge systems t
 hat can undermine the efficiency of PE. This seminar presents a case study
  of a semi-nomadic East African community in which veterinary researchers 
 used exploratory Social Network Analysis (SNA) and qualitative interviews 
 to map interactions between an NGO-led PE-type Participatory Disease Surve
 illance (PDS) programme and a diverse range of indigenous social and cultu
 ral knowledge systems. This study identified highly differentiated communi
 ties using indigenous\, NGO\, and hybrid knowledge pathways and networks\,
  with power and access driving choices to engage or subvert formal systems
 . Analysis of the significant influence from political\, economic\, and cu
 ltural networks shaping the use of PDS can inform PE planning in the regio
 n and provide lessons for the use of technology in developing future epide
 miological programmes.\n
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre 2\, Department of Veterinary Medicine
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