Medical Humanities – Pandemic Sciences Institute – AfOx Lunchtime Seminar
On Wednesday 27 March 2024, over 100 participants attended an online lunchtime seminar given by Dr Tolulope Osayomi, discussing his research into the nature of Covid-19 in Africa and its interpretation by epidemiologists as well as the media. Chaired by Professor David Eyre (BDI) and Professor Erica Charters (Medical Humanities), the seminar was co-hosted by Medical Humanities, the Pandemic Sciences Institute, and the Africa Oxford Initiative. Dr Osayomi is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where his research focuses on spatial epidemiology, global health, and the geography of pandemics. From 2020 to 2021, he led the Covid-19 Mapping Lab at the University of Ibadan’s Department of Geography. For the academic year 2023-2024, Dr Osayomi is an AfOx Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford, and will be based in Oxford for Trinity Term 2024 to conduct further research into the pattern of Covid-19 in Africa, as well as media coverage and types of explanations for Covid-19’s distinctive rates and symptoms in most regions of Africa.
In his seminar, Dr Osayomi highlighted the contrast between early speculations that Africa would be deeply affected by Covid-19, instead pointing to low morbidity and mortality rates. As he and other scholars have noted, this phenomenon has been termed ‘the African COVID-19 paradox’ (Osayomi et al., 2021). Various explanations were discussed and analysed, whether geographic, political, cultural, environmental, or demographic – or even the ‘late-onset advantage’ of when the infection reached Africa. More generally, Dr Osayomi also outlined how this phenomenon has been framed and interpreted, including the controversial ‘Poverty-as-a-Vaccine’ hypothesis, which suggested that endemic poverty in Africa conferred immunity against the virus. Although Dr Osayomi’s research is ongoing, with more seminars and workshop to be held in Trinity Term 2024, his presentation generated a lively question-and-answer discussion on both the nature of Covid-19 as well as on how ‘Africa’ is interpreted and portrayed, both medically and culturally, demonstrating the crucial importance of interdisciplinary research to properly understand health.
Medical Humanities Research Hub, TORCH Research Hubs
