The demographic toll of the Venezuelan crisis with Dr Jenny Garcia
2026 Heath Clark Lecture
Heath Clark Lecture, a lectureship in the History and Progress of Preventive Medicine and Tropical Hygiene, was founded in 1929 with funds donated to the University of London by Mr Charles Heath Clark – a philanthropic businessman interested in public health and education. It is awarded annually to a notable overseas academic and offers a three-month residency at LSHTM, together with a specific requirement to make a public lecture.
Once a prosperous destination for immigrants, Venezuela has become the origin of one of the largest population outflows in Latin American history. Years of economic hardship, political turmoil and declining access to essential services have transformed health outcomes and family life. Millions have left, decades of progress in survival have been reversed, and fewer children are being born. How have these changes unfolded, and what do they reveal about the crisis beyond the economic headlines?
Piecing together evidence where reliable data are scarce or unavailable, this lecture traces three decades of change in births, deaths and migration in Venezuela amid a prolonged socioeconomic and institutional crisis. It reveals how deterioration in health preceded the sharp economic collapse, inequalities widened between communities, and mass emigration transformed the country. Together, these findings illuminate the human toll of the crisis and its lasting demographic consequences.
Speaker
Dr Jenny Garcia
Jenny Garcia is a tenured researcher at the Institut National d’Études Démographiques (INED) in France and associated researcher with the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Venezuela. Her work focuses on the analysis and estimation of mortality trends with imperfect statistics, and the demographic consequences of crises, with particular attention to the demographic repercussions of the Venezuelan crisis across the Americas. She holds a PhD in Demography from Sorbonne University, France, and a master’s degree in Demography from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
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