Scand J Public Health. 2022 Nov 9:14034948221134339. doi: 10.1177/14034948221134339. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This lecture transcript is divided in four parts. First, I examine the main public-health strategies in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Although there are numerous factors capable of explaining national differences in COVID-19 mortality that are not attributable to merits or demerits of governments, I have identified five lethal errors (lack of preparation, misinformation, medicalisation, a policy approach based on a 'laissez-faire' attitude to the virus and social inequity) and four vital actions (testing, tracing, isolating with support, timeliness and immunisation) that best distinguish success or failure in tackling the pandemic. In the second part, I analyse the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and major risk factors for emerging zoonotic diseases (e.g. exploitation of animal wildlife, deforestation, agricultural intensification and climate change) to be addressed to prevent future pandemics. Then, I discuss the interrelationships between the COVID-19 pandemic and the ecological crisis in the context of the so-called neoliberal variant of capitalism. Both crises are largely determined by anthropogenic risk factors influenced by a model of economic development that prioritises infinite economic growth, free trade and a global self-regulating market over any other values of society (including human survival). An alternative economic approach, capable of creating a new balance between the health of humans, animals, and the environment (by modifying their structural drivers), is the most important antidote against new spillovers and climate change. It is the humanitarian immune response we need to protect global health from future pandemics and ecological collapse.

PMID:36349518 | DOI:10.1177/14034948221134339

Miribel, Benoît, rapp. ; Pajares y Sanchez, Catherine, rapp., Conseil économique social et environnemental (CESE), avril 2022, 90p.Le CESE formule 17 préconisations pour poser les bases d’une Europe de la Santé efficace, à même de répondre à ces nouveaux défis et aux attentes des citoyens pour développer une démocratie sanitaire européenne et coordonner davantage, intensifier la prévention et relever les défis.

EN SAVOIR PLUS / https://www.lecese.fr/sites/default/files/pdf/Avis/2022/2022_06_Europe_Sante.pdf

Emerg Microbes Infect. 2022 Sep 14:1-21. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2022.2125343. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Most of the new emerging and re-emerging zoonotic virus outbreaks in recent years stem from close interaction with dead or alive infected animals. Since late 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread into 221 countries and territories resulting in close to 300 million known infections and 5.4 million deaths in addition to a huge impact on both public health and the world economy. This paper reviews the COVID-19 prevalence in animals, raise concerns about animal welfare and discusses the role of environment in the transmission of COVID-19. Attention is drawn to the One Health concept as it emphasizes the environment in connection with the risk of transmission and establishment of diseases shared between animals and humans. Considering the importance of One Health for an effective response to the dissemination of infections of pandemic character, some unsettled issues with respect to COVID-19 are highlighted.

PMID:36102336 | DOI:10.1080/22221751.2022.2125343

One Health. 2022 Jul 22:100416. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2022.100416. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 can be characterized as an outcome of degraded planetary health drivers in complex systems and has wide-reaching implications in social, economic and environmental realms. To understand the drivers of planetary health that have influences of emergence and spread of COVID-19 and their implications for sustainability systems thinking and narrative literature review is deployed. In particular, sixteen planetary health drivers are identified, i.e., population growth, climate change, agricultural intensification, urbanization, land use and land cover change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, globalization, wildlife trade, wet markets, non-planetary health diet, antimicrobial resistance, air pollution, water stress, poverty and weak governance. The implications of COVID-19 for planetary health are grouped in six categories: social, economic, environmental, technological, political, and public health. The implications for planetary health are then judged to see the impacts with respect to sustainable development goals (SDGs). The paper indicates that sustainable development goals are being hampered due to the planetary health implications of COVID-19.

PMID:35892119 | PMC:PMC9304035 | DOI:10.1016/j.onehlt.2022.100416

Global Health. 2022 Jul 26;18(1):73. doi: 10.1186/s12992-022-00850-4.

ABSTRACT

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant global impact. However, COVID-19 is just one of several high-impact infectious diseases that emerged from wildlife and are linked to the human relationship with nature. The rate of emergence of new zoonoses (diseases of animal origin) is increasing, driven by human-induced environmental changes that threaten biodiversity on a global scale. This increase is directly linked to environmental drivers including biodiversity loss, climate change and unsustainable resource extraction. Australia is a biodiversity hotspot and is subject to sustained and significant environmental change, increasing the risk of it being a location for pandemic origin. Moreover, the global integration of markets means that consumption trends in Australia contributes to the risk of disease spill-over in our regional neighbours in Asia-Pacific, and beyond. Despite the clear causal link between anthropogenic pressures on the environment and increasing pandemic risks, Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, like most of the world, has centred largely on public health strategies, with a clear focus on reactive management. Yet, the span of expertise and evidence relevant to the governance of pandemic risk management is much wider than public health and epidemiology. It involves animal/wildlife health, biosecurity, conservation sciences, social sciences, behavioural psychology, law, policy and economic analyses to name just a few.The authors are a team of multidisciplinary practitioners and researchers who have worked together to analyse, synthesise, and harmonise the links between pandemic risk management approaches and issues in different disciplines to provide a holistic overview of current practice, and conclude the need for reform in Australia. We discuss the adoption of a comprehensive and interdisciplinary 'One Health' approach to pandemic risk management in Australia. A key goal of the One Health approach is to be proactive in countering threats of emerging infectious diseases and zoonoses through a recognition of the interdependence between human, animal, and environmental health. Developing ways to implement a One Health approach to pandemic prevention would not only reduce the risk of future pandemics emerging in or entering Australia, but also provide a model for prevention strategies around the world.

PMID:35883185 | DOI:10.1186/s12992-022-00850-4

Appl Nurs Res. 2022 Aug;66:151603. doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2022.151603. Epub 2022 Jun 24.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Healthcare professionals have played a fundamental role in managing and controlling the COVID-19 health crisis. They are exposed to high levels of suffering, trauma, uncertainty, and powerlessness in the workplace. The objective of this study was to explore and understand experiences of suffering among primary care and hospital care nurses during the COVID-19 health crisis.

DESIGN: This is a descriptive qualitative study. Between March and April 2021, 19 in-depth interviews were carried out with nurses at health and social care facilities and hospitals in southern Spain. ATLAS.ti 9.0 software was used for discourse analysis.

RESULTS: Nurses reported that they had experienced suffering during their work in the pandemic. The main causes suggested were direct contact with patients' suffering and organisational difficulties. The repercussions are in emotional dimension and physical deterioration and social isolation.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Given the circumstances, programmes to promote healthy, compassion-based behaviours and changes to the way in which professionals' suffering is handled must be implemented by healthcare facility managers. Nursing leaders should consider the management of suffering as a matter of the first order, both from the ethical point of view and the business profitability and make compassionate leadership.

PMID:35840275 | DOI:10.1016/j.apnr.2022.151603

Rev Med Suisse. 2022 Jul 13;18(790):1386-1389. doi: 10.53738/REVMED.2022.18.790.1386.

ABSTRACT

The "One Health" approach is essential to better understand and manage a pandemic of animal origin. Sensitive geopolitical considerations seem to hamper the investigations into the origin of the pandemic, but everything points to the Rhinolophus bat as the starting point of this devastating pandemic. Through a phenomenon of reverse zoonosis, several hundred cases of contamination of animals by SARS-CoV-2 have been identified worldwide, involving about twenty species of mammals. The virus has also passed from animals to humans in the case of infected mink farms in Denmark or through contact with hamsters in Hong Kong. For the development of vaccines and treatments and to help detect COVID-19 in train stations or airports, the animal has confirmed its role as a valuable auxiliary resource for humans in the fight against the pandemic.

PMID:35822747 | DOI:10.53738/REVMED.2022.18.790.1386