On Courage.

Today’s Note was written partly as a response to the terrible acts of violence we have witnessed in recent months. Since its completion, we have sadly seen another, this time in France; a country which has already suffered so much at the hands of hate. While details of last Thursday’s crime are still emerging, it is, I think, worth calling attention to the fact that the victims were killed while celebrating Bastille Day, a commemoration of a tremendous act of courage carried out in the face of great adversity. In the spirit, then, of Bastille Day, a Note on courage, and its importance to both public health and the day-to-day task of trying to live in an often troubled world.

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In the 19th century, puerperal fever—caused by a bacterial uterine infection—was a common postpartum killer in both Europe and the United States, claiming many lives. Also called “childbed fever,” the illness would strike women in the days immediately following childbirth. It was a terrifying disease, described as “raging fevers, putrid pus emanating from the birth canal, painful abscesses in the abdomen and chest, and an irreversible descent into an absolute hell of sepsis and death—all within 24 hours of the baby’s birth.”

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In the case of both Semmelweis and the HIV/AIDS movement, having courage meant contending with the possibility that change might not come within a single lifetime. It meant attempting to engage with a social/political/medical establishment that was at best indifferent and at worst actively hostile to the concerns of advocates and innovators.

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I hope everyone has a terrific week. Until next week.

Warm regards,

Sandro

Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH
Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor
Boston University School of Public Health
Twitter: @sandrogalea

Acknowledgement: I am grateful to Meaghan Agnew, Michelle Samuels, and Eric DelGizzo for their contributions to this Dean’s Note.

Previous Dean’s Notes are archived at: /sph/tag/deans-note/