Description:

EDGS Graduate Student Lecture Series

Omri Tubi, Sociology

In this paper I suggest that much of the development of medical institutions that were part of Jewish state-formation in Palestine and Israel can be explained as the result the adverse effect of war on health and disease. Focusing on malaria and its control in Palestine and Israel by a Malaria Research Unit and its staff, I show that a discussion of the relationship between war, health and disease and state-formation is missing from literature and develop a model the interrelationship. I argue that war worsens sanitary conditions which prompts the development of institutions and administration to take care of the problem. However, once conditions change and morbidity declines, these institutions might change or cease to exist. I conclude with suggestions for future research beyond this specific case.