Dr John Manton, Assistant Professor, Health Systems in History: Ideas, comparisons, policies c. 1890-2000, Centre for History in Public Health.
Centre members Martin Gorsky and John Manton visited Ibadan in Nigeria for ten days in October, where they were hosted at the University of Ibadan by . The visit enabled Dr Manton to follow up on a previous collaboration with IFRA, on research methods training in history and anthropology of medicine, by offering a . It also added new archival and investigative strands to Prof Gorsky鈥檚 project.
The Director of IFRA-Nigeria, Dr Elodie Apard, together with her academic and administrative colleagues, welcomed the LSHTM team and provided logistical and scholarly support for visits to the Nigerian National Archives, the Kenneth O. Dike Library at University of Ibadan (named after the prominent historian of the Ibadan School and former Vice-Chancellor of the University), and the Library of University College Hospital.
IFRA-Nigeria will also provide ongoing support to the Nigeria component of the Health Systems in Historyprogramme, enabling the project to build a community of interested scholars and research assistants, to develop research on the history of health systems and planning in late colonial and Independent Nigeria. Prof Gorsky gave a very well received introduction to the broader programme as part of the Series, with his lecture 鈥淔rom 鈥楶lanning鈥 to Systems Analysis鈥: Health Services and Development at the World Health Organisation, 1952-1975鈥.
Social highlights of the visit included attendance at the court of the Ooni of Ife, paramount ruler and spiritual leader of approximately 40 million Yoruba, dining with the IFRA research team, and visiting with longstanding colleagues and collaborators of Dr Manton. Plans are afoot for follow up visits to consolidate very fruitful work in Ibadan, and to further raise the profile of LSHTM and the History Centre across Nigeria.