Description

This multi-volume reference set contributes new thinking and evidence to a critical global issue: How can we better understand, prepare for, and respond to global health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic which shocked the whole planet in recent years? This is foundationally relevant to a global infectious disease crisis, but there are other pandemics — non-communicable diseases, mental health, climate change, commercial impacts on health — that also require effective responses.

This set uniquely combines the evidence and perspectives from diverse disciplines ranging from public health sciences such as epidemiology, medical and clinical sciences, and social sciences including political science, economics, and organizational science. These views are brought together through an innovative new framework linking evolving disease-focused science with analysis of the interaction of Institutions, Politics, Public Health Systems Organization, and Governance processes (IPOG) to address crises. More is needed than the technical perspectives on preparedness and response from public health and medical science to be ready for current and future crises in population health.

Volume 1 focuses on the gathering of intelligence and evidence and its use for population-focused and clinical intervention through the crisis evolution and resolution. Volume 2 introduces institutions, politics, organization of public health systems and governance (IPOG) as key “upstream” determinants of pandemic response with insights from social science and its applications in pandemic response. It describes the framework and methodology for using the IPOG approach. Volume 3 collects a wide range of jurisdiction-based analyses of how IPOG factors influenced different experiences in pandemic preparedness and response in case studies of national and sub-national experiences in North America, South America, Africa, Northern and Central Europe, and South Asia.

What emerges are imperatives for future investment in preparedness and response for population health, for researchers working together across disciplines, and for the education and training of future leaders, practitioners, and researchers. All of these efforts should be enhanced and coordinated to recognize the impact of IPOG processes and be prepared to respond to them in future crisis and expand our knowledge to support this preparation.