EAHMH Conference

Kateřina and José presented papers in a panel "Medical expertise and crises of childhood development in East-Central Europe (1945-1989"). They discussed how expertise on child development in state-socialist East-Central Europe was influenced by international knowledge exchanges and how these sparked debates about socialist norms of collective childcare and the future healthy development of children. Pediatricians, but also psychologists and pedagogues, discussed John Bowlby’s attachment theory and strove to adapt it in societies where women were employed and maternal role was not their sole preoccupation. Also, experts worried about the long-term development of prematurely-born babies as it became clear that some will never become normal. They will analyze how socialist experts created and deployed knowledge about the health and normalcy of the future generation.

Annina and Natalia presented in a panel "Reproductive health and perinatal care: dealing with crisis in state socialist Central and Eastern Europe." They discussed socialist medicine and health policies aimed at women’s and children’s health, namely infant mortality and obstetric care. They provided a comparative perspective on the struggles to reduce high infant mortality rates, one of the key tasks of early state socialist healthcare policies. Through an analysis of the definitions of livebirth and the role of midwives, they showed two sides of the policies to combat infant mortality.