Latest news

A new piece of research led by Professor Clare Bambra of Newcastle University, Inequalities lead for the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration for the North East and North Cumbria, has compared the impact of COVID-19 with the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918.

The work, co-led by Dr Paul Norman from the University of Leeds, mapped data from the Spanish flu pandemic alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, to highlight how northern regions fared worse in the Spanish flu outbreak, just as they have done during COVID-19.

North East towns including Hebburn and Jarrow were particularly affected by the Spanish flu, with almost 1,200 deaths per 100,000.

The paper; ‘Visualising regional inequalities in the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic in England and Wales’, has been published in Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space.

You can read more, including comments and reactions, on Newcastle University’s website.