The ineluctable role of persuasion | The Healthiest Goldfish

On the importance of working to convince rather than compel.

“A quarantine officer cannot just introduce restrictions and rely on the threat of military force to implement them; he must also seek to persuade people to adhere to those restrictions of their own volition.” 

This passage is from Nights of Plague, the novel I am reading now, by Orhan Pamuk, one of Turkey’s most decorated contemporary writers. The novel is about the arrival of a plague to a religiously and culturally divided island in the Ottoman Empire in 1900. Nights of Plague contains much that is relevant for how we think about pandemics, the societies they strike, and the public health authorities tasked with addressing them. The passage above speaks to something that we arguably do not talk about enough in our conversations about how to encourage compliance with public health best practices in both normal times and in times of crisis: the value of persuasion. In the last Healthiest Goldfish, I wrote about the value of performance, about how the roles we play can help us to better support the health of the public. Persuasion is a natural extension of this conversation about how our public presentation can best serve our work. Some thoughts, then, on the importance of persuasion and the steps we can take to become more persuasive as a field.  

Read more here

The right amount of performance | The Healthiest Goldfish

On ensuring the roles we play are consistent with our values.

We live in a culture that values authenticity. It is never hard to find books, articles, films, songs and other media extolling the virtues of being our authentic self, of transcending the barriers that keep us from showing the world who we truly are. In this context, it can be uncomfortable to consider the ways we might embrace a level of performance in how we present ourselves. Yet I will start today’s essay with a perhaps countercultural assertion: We perform all the time. We perform in what we say, what we do, how we dress. For example, as I write these words, I am wearing what I usually wear to work: A formal suit with a jacket. I am writing the way I tend to speak in professional settings, with formal language. This is, to an extent, a performance. I am choosing to present in these ways in the hope that doing so will help me to better navigate the spaces I inhabit and better serve the interests of public health. In this sense, performance is a tool, a means to the end of helping to advance our mission.

Read more here

The Turkey-Syria Earthquake and the Challenge of Disasters | Dean's Note

On our responsibility to create the conditions that mitigate disasters—preventing them when we can and supporting the physical and mental health of survivors when we cannot.

It has been hard to look away from the stories and images coming out of Turkey and Syria in the wake of the recent earthquake in the region. As many as 15,000 people have been reported dead, a number which will undoubtedly rise. Each day brings a new haunting image, a new story of how the disaster has affected individuals and families, a new reminder of the devastating effect of mass traumatic events. As the tragedy continues to evolve, my thoughts are with all of those who have been touched by this disaster, particularly the members of our school community with connections to the region. The process of recovery will be long. The physical and mental health effects of disasters can last years, even a generation. Thank you to all who are working in concert with global public health efforts to assist with the recovery. 

Read more here.

On a new practical philosophy of health | The Healthiest Goldfish

Public health after COVID-19 is in a “post-war” moment, a time for revisiting the philosophical underpinning of our field, to ensure it aligns with the evolution of our collective values.

Recently, it was announced that Noma, often called the world’s best restaurant, is closing. This announcement was even more notable for the reasons behind it. Noma is not closing due to lack of demand—which, given the restaurant’s reputation, remains high. Nor is it closing because the co-owner and head chef, René Redzepi, is retiring. He is still relatively young and has already stated his intention to turn the Noma brand into something new, transitioning to a food lab with occasional pop-up restaurants. Instead, Noma in its current form is closing because Redzepi feels the business model is unsustainable, resting as it does on punishingly long hours and the labor of interns who, until recently, went unpaid for sometimes grueling and monotonous work. Redzepi said of this model, “Financially and emotionally, as an employer and as a human being, it just doesn’t work.”

Read more here

“Just because we can doesn’t mean we should” | The Healthiest Goldfish

On the virtue of exercising restraint, towards better advancing the long-term goals of public health.

I have long argued for a muscular public health. We should be proactive in using the levers at our disposal to shape a healthier world. This includes shaping public policy, working within institutions to reorient priorities towards health, and maintaining clear communications with the public. A muscular public health is one which engages, out of necessity, with power, using it to generate outcomes that we believe support a healthier world. Much of public health’s successes have happened because of such engagement. There is less smoking in the US, roads are less hazardous, regulations have been put in place creating safer neighborhoods and workplaces because reformers, including many in public health, acted, because they were not shy about making choices in the context of a given historical moment which advanced a healthier present and future. Insofar as action serves such a vision, it is to be embraced.

Read more here

Health equity: Your health outlook depends on where you live - but the private sector could change that | World Economic Forum

In many ways, the world is healthier than ever before. The rate of extreme poverty is falling, standards of living are rising and overall life expectancy has significantly improved. This progress is not the full story, however. Health inequities — gaps between the health of different groups — have long characterized global health. The persistence of these inequities reflects an urgent need to close the health gaps that threaten our progress on health.

It is impossible to build a healthier future without addressing the gaps that hold us back. We believe that with the right strategies, partnerships and resources, it is possible to achieve zero health gaps. By this, we mean a world where no one is excluded from living a long, healthy life, where all have the opportunity to flourish and thrive and where no one by the lottery of their place of birth is consigned to living a less healthy life.

Read the full piece by Sandro Galea and Bechara Choucair here

Reimagining immigration with public health as a guide | The Hill

Last Sunday, President Biden made his first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border since assuming the presidency. It is good to see the Biden Ever since the U.S. became a destination for immigrants, migration has shaped our culture and politics, as Americans have balanced competing impulses. On one hand, we are the land of “Give me your tired, your poor, /Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” On the other, we are the country of Benjamin Franklin arguing against German immigration, the country of “No Irish need apply,” and the country of “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best … They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” administration keeping attention on the issue of migration, which remains a critical part of the American demographic landscape. The U.S. has more immigrants than any other nation. Over 40 million people living in the U.S. were born beyond our shores. Each year, over 1 million immigrants arrive here.

Ever since the U.S. became a destination for immigrants, migration has shaped our culture and politics, as Americans have balanced competing impulses. On one hand, we are the land of “Give me your tired, your poor, /Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” On the other, we are the country of Benjamin Franklin arguing against German immigration, the country of “No Irish need apply,” and the country of “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best … They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” 

The tension between the instinct to welcome immigrants and the willingness to demonize them has kept migration a political flashpoint for most of American history.

Read the full piece on The Hill

Building a Healthier World in the New Year | Dean's Note

On advancing a vision of health in 2023.

As we return from the holiday intersession, a word of welcome to our community. I hope everyone had a relaxing, joyous time with family and friends. Over the past week it has been wonderful to reconnect with colleagues, to hear about travels, about books read over the break, dinner table conversations, and new ideas that emerged from holiday reflections.

We are now at the beginning of a new year. This has historically been a time for making resolutions, using the fresh start of the season to become the best possible versions of ourselves. The tradition of making resolutions began about 4,000 years ago with the ancient Babylonians, who also held the first recorded new year celebrations. During a festival, the Babylonians would promise their gods that they would pay their debts and return anything they had borrowed.

Read more here.