Pandemic preparedness in a Finnish expert organization before and after COVID-19
Abstract as pdf
Corresponding Author:
Helmi Räisänen
University of Helsinki Finland
helmi.raisanen@helsinki.fi
Author(s):
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating consequences around the globe. National responses to the pandemic have not been coordinated, and there has been great variation in how nations were prepared to deal with a public health emergency of this magnitude. Yet the situation did not come as a surprise to infectious disease experts who had been warning that the next pandemic is just a matter of time.
In this paper, I describe an ethnographic study of pandemic preparedness. The time frame of the study extends from 2017 to 2021. I focus on the infectious disease expert community in the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). THL is an independent research institute under the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and it has had a central role in the pandemic response in Finland. The study is based on interview material, participant observation in THL’s infectious disease
unit during the pre-pandemic phase, and health security related document analysis. Firstly, my aim is to analyse how the experts conceptualize and act on future health threats that are caused by new, emerging pathogens. This leads me to study some of the techno-scientific anticipatory practices that the experts use in order to turn the uncertain future into an object of present intervention. Examples of these practices include disease surveillance networks, health security evaluation processes, and simulation exercises. Secondly, based on interviews conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, I intend to trace how the actualization of a pandemic has shaped the anticipatory practices and perceptions of preparedness.
This study shows how, in the Finnish case, the common risk-based approach to the management of public health co-exists with vigilance against previously unknown pathogens. The governance of uncertain future does not rely solely on data on historical patterns of disease occurrence. While some practices are converting the future into specific possibilities, other practices aim to leave more space for the unexpected and treat the future as more indeterminate. According to the informants of this study, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to highlight the importance of all-hazards approach to pandemic preparedness.
Anticipatory governance – Dealing with uncertain futures