Health in a Post-COVID World

“A brilliant analysis of how global health reflects the link between our social values and political actions. I hope this will become a standard text for global health students around the world.” Anthony Costello, University College London and former WHO Director of Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

“A book for now, a wake-up call to recognise that safeguarding human health by tackling its root determinants is as crucial as planetary health for a sustainable future.” Neena Modi, Imperial College London and former BMA President

“A whirlwind but also meticulous tour of the evidence that social inequality and injustice are the last great barriers to human freedom and good health.” Danny Dorling, University of Oxford

“This book’s unique approach – by exploring subtle failures in the system, disintegration of faith, and the need to redefine societal software – is very much needed to fill the critical gaps in the conventional analytical work currently available on health in post-COVID era.” Muthu Maharajan, UNICEF

“Particularly important in our complex world and times… the approach is fresh, brave and comprehensive at the same time, and will make a difference.” Haik Nikogosian, Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute Geneva, former Head of Secretariat, WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and former Armenian Minister of Health

"Written with elegance, this readable text is one that all scholars of global health policy would enjoy and public health students should engage with.” Ronald Labonté, University of Ottawa

“What is important about this book is its ability to take concepts which we take for granted as 'good’ and put them in a historical and health perspective, challenging unchallenged beliefs.” Susan Goldstein, Public Health Specialist and Deputy Director, SAMRC/Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science; PRICELESS, South Africa

"A fascinating and important historical account of how health, society and politics have interacted over the centuries, rich in information and thought-provoking ideas. His argument that a shared concern about health can help bring communities and countries together offers hope for the future." Lord Nigel Crisp, former Chief Executive of the NHS

Sebastian Taylor leads the global programme at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. He is an advisor to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and served as Senior Research Fellow on the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health. He works with governments, UN agencies, international and local NGOs on health systems strengthening in India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Nepal, Afghanistan and Laos, Nigeria, Rwanda and Sierra Leone amongst other countries. He led intervention in conflict-affected and post-conflict countries, from clearing landmines to advocacy on international humanitarian law, and has taught international health and development at undergraduate and graduate levels.

Prologue: Health and civilisation

Crisis: A Timeline

Part 1: Growth

1. Growth, Wealth and Health

2. Health and Trade

3. 'They Go on Because They Have Begun'

Part 2: Freedom

4. The Nature of Freedom

5. The Vaccine Society

6. The Freedom to Fail

7. The Dead Hand of Care

Part 3: Justice

8. The Poverty of Justice

9. Just Health, Just Care

10. A Kingdom of Ends

Part 4: Security

11. War and Peace

12. The Risk Society

Part 5: Democracy

13. One for All

Part 6: Truth

14. Who Counts?

15. Conclusion

Postscript: Crisis in the UK 2022