Opinion: How Lessons from Global Health Can Improve Health And The Response To COVID-19 In The US

How Lessons from Global Health Can Improve Health And The Response To COVID-19 In The US | Health Affairs

Cases of coronavirus are rising in states across the U.S. and across parts of Latin America, Africa, and South Asia, showing that even the first wave of arguably one of the world’s most dangerous pandemics is far from over. The data on who is most likely to contract, and succumb to, the virus tell a sobering tale of the link between inequities in society and one’s chances of survival. In the case of the United States, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed profound inequities that have been hiding in plain sight for decades. A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found that after adjusting for differences in age, Black people are hospitalized with COVID-19 at a devastating rate that is five-times that of White people in the United States. The severity with which COVID-19 has struck down front-line workers, from nursing home assistants to grocery checkers, emergency medical technicians to retail workers, further highlights the reality that those most vulnerable to diseases often have the fewest protections. The deep-seated policy failures that exacerbate health, economic, and racial disparities in the US need urgent local and national action.

In our work on global health policy and as physicians in the US and abroad, we have witnessed firsthand the harmful effects of inequity. And we have seen how past US leadership in global health—through endeavors such as the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); support for the World Health Organization, the Global Fund, and the Gavi Vaccine Alliance; US contributions to fighting Ebola; and US leadership of the Global Health Security Agenda—have made the world healthier and more equitable. We believe the values and ideals the US has expressed through these global engagements represent the US at her best, and in many cases should be emulated within the US health system.

Yet, while the US has played a leadership role so many times in the past, we are at a critical juncture where we also need to heed the lessons learned from others as the US falls further behind in its COVID-19 response. Drawing from our experiences, we put forth seven lessons learned from efforts to protect global health that, if applied here at home, will help to reduce inequities and improve the health of all Americans.

(See full article for the 7 points.)