A conference is organized on Thursday October 10 and Friday October 11 in the auditorium of the research center of the University of French Polynesia on the theme “Polynesians facing diseases: health and care from the pre-European period to Covid-19.”
“Polynesians facing diseases” is the name of a conference which will be held, Thursday and Friday, in the auditorium of the UPF research center. The researchers will present the first results of their work carried out over two years on the “Resilience of Polynesians to diseases and epidemics”, directed by Professor Eric Conte with the organizing committee of Dr Tamatoa Bambridge, Dr Lucile Hervouet and Professor Guillaume Soft.
This multidisciplinary work brought together around twenty scientists. The latter worked on the diseases that the Polynesians experienced before the first contacts with Europeans until the COVID crisis. “The way Polynesians viewed illness was different. Often it was the result of a spell or the failure to observe a certain taboo. People used a certain number of medicines, for example against venereal diseases, the Polynesians had apparently found certain remedies that worked even though they did not know about these diseases.“, indicates Eric Conte, professor emeritus in archaeology.
The conference will end on Friday with a round table on the theme “diseases and health organization in French Polynesia, what to do with the cultural dimension”.
You will be able to follow the discussions live or recorded on the internet.
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