Addressing COVID-19 Vulnerabilities: How Do We Achieve Global Health Security in an Inequitable World
2021
This article from Global Public Health provides an overview of global health security (GHS) using the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic and the inequities spurred by the crisis, suggesting ways to address these vulnerabilities to achieve global health security. The article discusses the need for global health security to center human security and equity. Further, it provides an overview of the challenges countries with fewer resources have faced throughout the COVID-19 crisis, including the restriction of essential public health services and state violence and intimidation in response to noncompliance of lockdown measures, which largely impacted marginalized and poor communities. The authors also discuss inequities in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and how obstructed access to medicines, historically and at present, have widely impacted global health security, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The authors provide pathways for mitigating global health inequities, including international cooperation to ensure access to technologies and treatments, equitable access to vaccines, and the centering of human rights to develop global health security plans that can effectively manage or prevent future pandemics.
Source:
Sehovic AB, Govender K. Addressing COVID-19 Vulnerabilities: How Do We Achieve Global Health Security in an Inequitable World. Global Public Health 2021; 16: 1198-1208. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2021.1916056.