In 1918, history’s worst known infectious disease outbreak commonly known as the Spanish flu killed over a 50 million people and infected over 500 million globally. “The outbreak happened during World War I. Since Spain was not involved, it was the only country that reported the outbreak. That is how it came to be known as the Spanish flu,” said Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean for Global Strategy and K.T. Li professor of Global Health, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
Dr. Jha said that the exhibition ‘Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World’ was not only created to mark the 100th anniversary but also to learn lessons. We were in a far less connected world than today and thus there is more threat of such outbreaks. To prevent the next big pandemic, we need more surveillance and investments in public health.
The exhibition at Nehru Science Centre explores the pandemic risks in the modern interconnected world and provides information on viruses like ebola and zika that are being reported from various parts of the world. The exhibition had been curated by Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, USA in collaboration with Harvard Global Health Institute, USA.
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