Louise Warwick-Booth - Contemporary Health Studies

The WHO (2019a) lists antimicrobial resistance as one of the top ten global health threats. This is the ability of bacteria, bugs and parasites to resist antibiotic medicines, commonly used to treat infections such as pneumonia and tuberculosis. Furthermore, surgical procedures will be compromised without the availability of effective antibiotics. Since 1930 these drugs have transformed how medicine treats diseases, protected the sick (e.g. cancer patients with weakened immune systems from chemotherapy) and supported global food production (Kirchhelle and Roberts, 2019). However, economic interests (profit-making) have meant that the development of new antibiotics has failed because investment has focused upon more lucrative options (medication that needs to be taken for longer). However, bacteria have become more resistant to existing drugs, compounded by the overuse of antimicrobials in people, but also in animals, especially those used for food production, as well as in the environment (WHO, 2019f).

Some governments have created action plans which include public-health awareness campaigns, attempting to educate communities about correct usage. Haenssgen (2019) suggests that such approaches assume that knowledge will lead to behaviour change but that the effectiveness of health education needs evaluation. Mohammed and Millard (2019) highlight an alternative approach where scientists are trying to use viruses as an alternative to antibiotics in the treatment of bacterial infections. WHO has also called upon Big Pharma to invest more money in the development of new antibiotics. There has been one positive development of a drug called pretomanid, now approved for use with patients who have drug resistant TB, developed by a not-for-profit organization called TB Alliance (Boseley, 2020a). Kirchhelle and Roberts (2019) point out that the market is broken, as even the injection of £520 million of public money since 2016 has not stopped industry departments responsible for antibiotic development from shrinking. Instead they call for a publicly owned approach, which will be better able to respond to need rather than prioritizing commercial interests.

Identifying substantive health threats is constructed by definitions of health, considerations of determinants of health, magnitude, seriousness as well as media and moral panics about health threats.

Epidemiological transition has changed global patterns from infectious diseases at the start of the twentieth century to chronic diseases in the twenty-first century and this pattern is predicted to continue.

Health threats in the twenty-first century will require global action around the major determinants of health such as poverty, inequity, climate change and population growth.

1 This chapter shows that risk is a complex and multi-faceted concept. Can you identify all of the factors that influence the construction of health-related risk perceptions?

2 Identify one area of risk to public health, for example, a newly emerging infectious disease. Now think about all of the consequences of risk perceptions in relation to this. Reflect upon the likely political, economic and health consequences of risk perceptions in relation to this area.

3 Consider the role of science in relation to the conceptualization and management of health risks. How important is science within this process?

World Health Organization (2020) web-pages specifically. https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019This is an excellent summary of the complex global health risks presented in a structured easy-to-read format, a top-ten list. The web-pages highlight the major health risks and provide some detail about each of them.

Roig, B., Weiss, K. and Thireau, V., eds (2018) Management of Emerging Public Health Issues and Risks . London, Academic Press.This book discusses the emerging public-health risks from the technological, environmental, health and energy sectors, as well as their social impacts, exploring how increased scientific knowledge determines understanding. The book also offers readers a range of case studies from across the world.

Rushton, S. (2019) Security and Public Health . Cambridge, Polity.This book explores the ways in which governments manage threats of infectious disease and try to protect the public from pandemics. The politics and security of pandemics in the contemporary world is explored, looking at the impact on civil liberties, treatment rather than prevention and the diseases that gain attention.

See also the website accompanying this book at www.politybooks.com/chs

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