Abstract
Objectives
To present a historical–critical analysis of the configuration process of the 2009–2010 flu pandemic in order to show the relationships between this process and the organization of world power, and to promote social and political mobilization.
Methods
Primary and secondary sources on the dynamics of the 2009–2010 flu pandemic were studied. The sources were validated by plausibility assessment and historiographical analysis. From a historical–territorial and critical approach, the relations between the world configuration of the pandemic and the economic, political, and ideological power relations of contemporary capitalism were identified.
Results
It is revealed that the expanding monopoly of the pig industry provided favorable conditions for the evolutionary explosion of the influenza A(H1N1) virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) made decisions that were inclined toward the economic interests of the pig and pharmaceutical industries within the framework of financial-cognitive capitalism.
Conclusions
The modes of conduct of these institutions and companies materialized the world relations of economic, political, and ideological power of our time, which determined the configuration process of the pandemic. The worldwide spreading of the virus is barely a trail of the process.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are immensely grateful to the translator, Sirena Rayes, for her dedication to understand and adequately convey our work.
Funding
From Colciencias, the Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Administrative Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation), currently esteemed as the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation, a research grant for financial support was given to the PhD program of the corresponding author by way of the 2009 Convocatoria Nacional para Estudios a Nivel de Doctorado en Colombia (National Call for Doctoral Level Studies in Colombia).
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Henao-Kaffure, L., Hernández-Álvarez, M. Flu pandemic, world power, and contemporary capitalism: building a historical–critical perspective. Int J Public Health 65, 1003–1009 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-020-01441-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-020-01441-z