Infections don’t stop at national borders anthropologist Cameron Hay-Rollins reminded an audience in downtown Hamilton, which means our health in Ohio is intimately intertwined with the health of people elsewhere in the world, and improvements in health status will thus necessitate addressing local and global health inequities.

In her Oct. 21 talk, Hay-Rollins used influenza to illustrate how poverty and global interaction affect the spread and severity of infectious diseases. Specifically, she linked the avian (H5N1) flu that continues to circulate in Indonesia with the current pandemic H1N1 flu, arguing that health inequities within and between countries enhance the risk of infectious disease mutations (such as a combined H5N1-H1N1 flu).

The talk, entitled "Globalization and Health" was the sixth in a series of Friday noontime talks on global-local relations being held this semester in downtown Hamilton. The series, organized by Miami Hamilton anthropology professor John Cinnamon with support from Miami Hamilton Dean Daniel E. Hall, is designed to “begin a conversation with community members about current dimensions of globalization,” Cinnamon said. The series also serves as a contribution to Miami’s bicentennial series of events.

Miami Hamilton Downtown is a storefront space at 221 High Street designed to increase Miami’s civic engagement with the wider community. The space hosts more than 100 events a year, from poetry readings to film showings to its “Egghead Café”, in which Miami professors offer thought-provoking informal discussions with Hamilton residents.