Post-Pandemic Public Health

Welcome!

This blog's purpose is to give you links to articles and websites relevant to the course. I'll be adding links as the course continues. 

If you want to get in touch with me between sessions, you can reach me at [email protected]. You can also follow me on Twitter, where I'm @Crof. And you may want to visit my blog H5N1, where I occasionally post a new story on health-related issues. The site also has a great many links to relevant websites.

Session Topics

Session 1, February 7:  Introduction to the course.

Background of public health in Canada and the US.
Defining “public health.”
“Curative” versus “preventive” healthcare
PHAC, CDC responses to COVID-19
Weakened reputations of public health agencies and healthcare workers by 2022

Session 2, February 14: Survey of potential new disease threats.

Climate-driven: vector-borne diseases like dengue, malaria, chikungunya, Zika; fungal diseases like valley fever, Candida auris.
Avian influenzas, especially H5N1.
Continuing mutation of SARS-CoV-2; long COVID.
Demographics-driven: dementias.
Social determinants of health: obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular health, cancer, road traffic injuries, mental health.

Session 3, February 21: Response problems.

Weakened healthcare systems
Public resistance to collective action; misinformation

Logistical problems (vaccine production and distribution, medication shortages, etc.)
Poor coordination between federal, provincial healthcare systems

Session 4, February 28: Building a new system from womb to tomb:

Public health as a national security issue
Prenatal, postnatal care, encouragement of good eating habits
Full range of vaccinations
Tuition-free education for 16 years
Universal public healthcare including eldercare
Coping with “polycrisis” of climate change, mass migrations, wars, ageing, intensifying inequality

Recommended Reading

Session 1:

British Columbia, Public Health Act.

Canada. Full report: A Vision to Transform Canada's Public Health System.

Canada. Mobilizing Public Health Action on Climate Change in Canada.

Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada.

Canadian Public Health Association, This is Public Health: A Canadian History. Executive Summary (2010), 

Johnson, Quarantined: Life and Death at William Head Station, 1872-1959. Heritage House, 2013.

Kilian, Lessons of the Barbary Plague. 

Session 2:

Kilian, Climate Crisis: A Prescription from 200 Medical Journals.

Kilian, Why the Pandemic Will Be a Long, Long Haul. 

Kilian, The Long Tail of the Pandemic. 

Kilian, Dementia, a Worsening Public Health Emergency.

Kilian, Dr. Tam’s Bold Diagnosis of What Ails Canada. 

Session 3:

Naylor Report, 2003. Original proposal for creation of PHAC.

CBC, COVID-19 misinformation cost at least 2,800 lives and $300M, new report says

Kilian, Where the Convoy Is Trying to Drive Canada.

Kilian, BC Hasn't Learned Much from the Pandemic.

Kilian, The Next Pandemic? More Likely a Polydemic.

Kilian, How COVID-19 Broke Canadian Society.

Kilian, Our Long Night of the Virus. Review of 4 books.

Kilian, Who Knew? Failures of preparation.

Session 4:

ChatGPT and Bing, Chatbots on rebuilding Canadian public health Download Chatbots on rebuilding public health

Kilian, Fixing the Crisis in Public Health.

Kilian, ‘Health Populism’ a Hazard to Public Health — and Yours.

Kilian, Should Public Health Be a National Security Issue?

Kilian, Why We Need a 'Prosocial' Revolution.

Marshall, Can We Be Ready?  

Reinhart, Fixing U.S. public health will require a health-systems revolution — and for physicians to take a backseat.

Reinhart, Want to Fix Public Health? Stop Thinking Like a Doctor.

More Links:

H5N1. 

The Politics of Dementia.

Cholera in Haiti.

Hothouse Earth. 

World Health Organization.

Public Health Agency of Canada.

BC Centre for Disease Control.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.