Learning from the Noughties
Article Outline
Well, we have left the noughties behind us and are approaching the teens of the twenty-first century. The past decade seems to have rushed past, though that perhaps reflects an era when time rarely seems to be “spare”. Who recalls the predictions1 based loosely on the work of Nostradamus, at the eve of the Millennium? We were warned that the world was about to end, or at least that there would be severe disruption of communications due to crashes of information technology. In the event, the Millennium transition was relatively smooth, at least in terms of technology. But what followed, including major terrorist atrocities, wars, and natural disasters which may or may not have been preventable, all wreaked havoc with the world's wellbeing, in addition to the impact of personal tragedies for the many people directly affected. Most recently, we have found ourselves in economic recession, which is likely to be associated with additional challenges to individual and population health and wellbeing.2
We do not have the means, as yet, to measure this loss of wellbeing or its cost. Whilst lower income might prompt some people to tighten their belts with a return to healthier lifestyles, including more walking, healthy home cooking and less smoking and alcohol, others will be thrown into depression associated with unemployment and loss of autonomy over their lives. Such shifts are prone to be associated with socioeconomic status – the former more likely to be educated and relatively affluent, the latter more often socially disadvantaged. So, yet again, the least well off in society are at greatest risk from threats to health and wellbeing. Result: increased risk of widening health inequalities. This is a pessimistic prediction and we hope the world's governments are ready to think and act preventively to avert further development of inequalities. In the UK, we await the outcome of the government-commissioned post-2010 review of health inequalities, led by Sir Michael Marmot.3 In reality, many governments will be focussing on getting their economies out of recession, and threats to the wellbeing of citizens may well be viewed as collateral damage.
As we enter this new decade, it is timely to reflect on the first pandemic of infectious disease of this century. So we are very pleased to be able to publish selected papers from the recent Far East conference on Pandemic Influenza, which provides a timely progress report on the pandemic. Thanks to our colleagues in Beijing for the opportunity to publish these papers and to John McConnell for his Guest Editorial.4 In many countries, health services are striving to protect those most at risk through immunisation. Yet those services are offered by healthcare professionals who are struggling to advise those most at risk; hampered by the scarcity of reliable, applicable published evidence on which to base their advice. We know that even with robust evidence for safety and efficacy, promoting immunisation can be difficult due to lack of awareness of the evidence or to the sometimes entrenched personal beliefs of the staff concerned. It is our view that the widest possible dissemination of robust, independent evidence about pandemic influenza and its control must be actively promoted.
Yet as we approach the teens of the 21st century, we must also actively promote the health and wellbeing of the populations we serve. We do need to protect and promote; it isn't good enough to do one without the other.
We are very pleased to include in this month's issue of Public Health selected papers from the recent international Pandemic Influenza meeting in Beijing. This means giving our readers an excellent opportunity to access up to date research and expert opinion on this important topic from around the world, and we are delighted to be able to publish these papers, complete with a Guest Editorial from John McConnell, Pandemic influenza: learning from the present. Other papers are broad in scope, covering such topics as an exploration of a possible “pauper rich paradox” in Latin America, in relation to potentially preventable premature mortality, and public health governance. In the shadow of the recent Copenhagen Climate Summit, there are two topical papers that look at environmental effects on health in relation to climate. Our book reviews consider recent publications on value for money in healthcare and the ‘weaponization’ of infectious diseases: very serious subjects with which the public health community must engage.
References
- Digging in for the digital doomsday. The Guardian. 26 May 1999;Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/1999/may/26/y2k.onlinesupplement(accessed 09/12/09)
- The recession is bad for your health, experts warn. The Daily Telegraph. 11 March 2009;Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/4967199/The-recession-is-bad-for-your-health-experts-warn.html(accessed 09/12/09)
- Strategic review of health inequalities in England post-2010 (Marmot Review). Available at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview/Documents(accessed 09/12/09)
- . Pandemic influenza: learning from the present. Public Health. 2010;124(1):3–4
PII: S0033-3506(09)00369-2
doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2009.12.003
© 2009 Published by Elsevier Inc.
