SARS in China: Prelude to Pandemic?

"Makes a significant contribution to China studies [and] provides important clues about the state of preparation for global health challenges." ―China Review International

The SARS epidemic of 2003 was one of the most serious public health crises of our times. The event, which lasted only a few months, is best seen as a warning shot, a wake-up call for public health professionals, security officials, economic planners, and policymakers everywhere. SARS in China addresses the structure and impact of the epidemic and its short and medium range implications for an interconnected, globalized world.

Warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made it clear that SARS may have been a prelude to bigger things. The authors of this volume focus on specific aspects of the SARS outbreak—epidemiological, political, economic, social, cultural, and moral. They analyze SARS as a form of social suffering and raise questions about the relevance of national sovereignty in the face of such global threats.

Taken together, these essays demonstrate that SARS had the potential of becoming a major turning point in human history. This book forces us to ask what we have learned from SARS as we go on to face newer, and farther-reaching, pandemics. The more recent COVID-19 outbreak amplifies the urgency of this question, and illuminates the strengths and shortcomings of different national responses to such pandemics.

Contributors include: Erik Eckholm * Joan Kaufman * Arthur Kleinman * Dominic Lee * Sing Lee * Megan Murray * Thomas G. Rawski * Tony Saich * Alan Schnur * James L. Watson * Hong Zhang * Yun Kwok Wing

© 2005 Stanford University Press (Ebook): 9781503614857

Release date

Ebook: 25 October 2005