How globalization affects the spread of disease
Transportation and disease transmission
Factors that accelerate disease spread in the modern era
- •
- •
- •
- •
- •
- •
Major pandemics and epidemics since 1900
The 1918 influenza pandemic ("Spanish flu")
HIV/AIDS

The COVID-19 pandemic (2020-present)
Medical advances in fighting disease
Vaccines: one of humanity's greatest achievements
Antibiotics
- •
- •
- •
- •
Public health infrastructure
- •
- •
- •
- •
Global health organizations and cooperation
The World Health Organization (WHO)
Other key organizations
The ongoing tension: disease in a globalized world
Diseases of poverty vs. diseases of affluence
Emerging infectious diseases
Primary sources
Albert Camus, The Plague (1947)
Dr. Peter Piot on HIV/AIDS in Africa (2000)
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, on COVID-19 (2020)
Key figures
Key events summary
- •
- •
- •
- •
- •
- •
- •
- •
- •