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Posters at Belfast Congress September 2009 - BSHM |
2009 Congress - BSHM Home Page
There was an exhibition of posters on topics relating to the History of Medicine (HoM).
There was a prize for the best poster from a student.
The prize was open to students of
History enrolled in an Irish or UK University, or medical students
who have completed a Module /Student Selected Component in the HoM
at an UK University. In addition History of Medicine students who
have not yet completed a PHD were eligible for the prize. The organiser of the poster session was Dr Susan Kelly -
email SK.Kelly@ulster.ac.uk.
The prize was awarded to Tharu Tharakan, a medical student from Imperial College London, for his poster:
Politics, Pilots and Potatoes. The experience of R.A.F. Prisoners of War in Germany during World War 2.
Most historical accounts of prisoner of war (POW) camps in WWII focus on heroic escapes. In contrast, this study explores one of the day to day aspects of life in the camps: nutrition. Drawing on international Red Cross reports and prisoner letters and diaries derived from four very different camps, it asks whether the POWs were fed sufficient amounts, what was their nutritional status, was Germany complying to the Geneva Convention on the "humane" treatment of POWs, and finally, what were the prisoners’ opinions about the food? It is argued that the answers to these questions not only provide valuable lessons about the prisoner’s plight, but also offer important insights into contemporary politics, science and economics.
Objectives: An overview of the major developments in the history of reconstructive facial plastic surgery. Plastic surgery originates from ancient India in 600 B.C. where the first techniques for nasal reconstruction were developed. Progress slowed during the middle ages, but following the Renaissance surgeons such as Carl von Graefe and Johann Dieffenbach revived interest in plastic surgery, leading the way for men like Sir Harold Gillies and Sir Archibald McIndoe, pioneers in the art of facial reconstruction during World Wars I and II. Centuries of development and experimentation have paved the way for modern-day techniques such as face transplantation.
Research sources include old and recent textbooks, peer-reviewed journals, medical databases and reputable websites.
The 'Spanish' Influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 disrupted societies and economies, killing between 40 and 100 million. On the island of Ireland, the virus killed a conservative 20,051 people, and infected more than 800,000 people. It has been ignored by Irish historians, more concerned with Irish political and military issues. This research project looks at what happened in Dublin and the rest of Leinster during the pandemic. Strands include how influenza exacerbated some of the political issues of the day, including tensions over the treatment of political internees. It examines the extent to which the Spanish flu disrupted the economy and society, and looks at the struggle to treat the ill, curtail the spread of disease and bury the dead.
Before the discovery of streptomycin, treatment for tuberculosis consisted of fresh air, good food and rest. For patients with tuberculosis of the lung 'rest' was time spent in bed. When the tuberculosis involved a bone or joint, however, 'rest' meant immobilising the area affected. For patients with tuberculosis of the spine or hip this could mean long periods lying on either their front or back strapped to a wooden bed board, or encased in plaster of Paris. This hindered their ability to communicate with both patients and other staff and entertain themselves in bed. This poster explores the memories of patients immobilised in this way in the first half of the twentieth century.
When the Communists came to power in China the health of the nation, particularly in rural areas, was appallingly bad. For the size of population there were few doctors trained in Western medicine and they were concentrated in the cities. Mao Zedong realised that, for economic success, improved health was essential and there was neither time nor money to train thousands of doctors. Instead he established the Barefoot Doctor movement. The barefoot doctors were minimally qualified paramedics who also worked in the fields and were thus close to the people they served. Initially it was successful, but that success was not sustained. The reasons for the decline included the intense propaganda that accompanied success, the desire for career enhancement and the limited effectiveness of traditional remedies.
(Abstract not available)
Copyright 2009 David Hawgood and the British Society for the History of Medicine
This page by David Hawgood
was amended 6 Nov 2009