Heidelberg University Workshop

Annina Gagyiova and José Luis Aguilar López-Barajas participated in the workshop "Kleinkinder und frühe Kindheit in Europa nach 1945" organized by Heidelberg University on the 3rd and 4th of November. Annina Gagyiova presented a paper titled "Too Early to Survive on Their Own".

Annina Gagyiova presented a paper titled “Too Early to Survive on Their Own: Care for Preterm Infants in Hungary and the GDR in the 1950s, “ where she comparatively explored the role of experts in guiding socialist governments as well as the public in how to care best for preterm babies. Using the example of vulnerable infants, she showed how socialist experts in Hungary and the GDR were vital to the modernization efforts of socialist states matching international standards as laid down by the WHO.

José Luis Aguilar López-Barajas presented a paper titled "Combating Infant Mortality Before the Baby is Born". The presentation compared two structurally different countries (one mostly rural, one urban) but argued that in both countries the state aimed at similarly centralizing the healthcare systems and they found the opposition of local healthcare actors, namely the midwives, who aimed to retain their central role, especially in rural areas.