A practical philosophy of public health for a new global moment
Why do we wish to be healthy? What is health for? What does it mean to pursue health in this moment, with the memory of COVID still fresh and public health facing political headwinds and a collapse in public trust?
These questions have been central to my thinking over the past few years, as I have tried to reckon with this unstable time for public health. This post-pandemic moment—which I and others have characterized as a “post-war” moment—is a chance for reflection, for evaluating what is fundamental about our field, the philosophy that animates our work at the deepest level.
When we look at the sweep of public health’s history, we see a field that has had remarkable successes. The treatment, even eradication, of deadly diseases. The doubling of global life expectancy. The development, and widespread dissemination, of vaccines. These successes rank among humankind’s greatest achievements. They were won by a combination of knowledge, values, and approaches which have long served public health well.
But we are in a new era. We can no longer assume the thinking that sustained us in the past can reliably do so in the present and future. Proof of this is in the challenges public health faces, its ongoing identity crisis in which our field remains a shadow of the confident, trusted, outwardly engaged movement it once was.
This is fixable. We can not only regain our footing, we can also build new foundations on which to stand. I serve as dean of the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky School of Public Health at Washington University in St Louis. Each day, I have the privelege of seeing our students grow into the public health leaders this moment needs. Their talent, their comittment to the work of public health, their keen understanding of this moment give me confidence that public health will find itself again.
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