The greatest global public health threats in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic complicated the understanding of and, in some ways, shaped global public health priorities, exposing systemic vulnerabilities in health systems worldwide while diverting attention and resources from other pressing threats to population health. In this editorial, a diverse panel of coauthors (n=26) rated the nineteen greatest predefined threats to global public health in the post-pandemic era, ranging from existing to emerging causes of morbidity and mortality. Ranking was based on perceived urgency for global health policy and investment attention, and finally, the top 5 threats identified by coauthors of this editorial were (descending order of ranking): non-communicable diseases; infectious diseases; poor mental health and substance use disorders; climate change, disasters, and humanitarian emergencies; and food insecurity, unsafe foods, and malnutrition. Besides this ranking, for each of the 19 public health threats, we summarized its scope, current evidence of burden, and rationale for its inclusion. Several threats discussed here are not new; rather, they reflect pre-pandemic trajectories that are now disrupted, delayed, or accelerated. Others, including the governance of health-related artificial intelligence and the post-pandemic intensification of loneliness and social isolation, reflect genuinely emerging concerns with limited standing in previous global health frameworks. The threats prioritized by this multicountry panel warrant urgent…
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