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https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/17-07-2024/wisdom-for-the-world-we-live-in-within-reason-reviewed-by-sir-ashley-bloomfield>
"
The director of New Zealand’s Covid-19 response reviews Within Reason: A
Liberal Public Health for an Illiberal Time by Sandro Galea.
The US and Aotearoa/New Zealand are both open democratic societies, yet their
fundamental organising principle is quite different. In the US, freedom and
liberty are central, while here in Aotearoa fairness (or equity) is the focus.
These contrasting organising principles are reflected in each country’s health
system. In the US, the free market reigns; most health care is delivered
privately and access to health services remains a major challenge for parts of
the population, including the most vulnerable. New Zealand’s health care system
is largely publicly funded and provided, with equity of access and outcomes a
significant focus (and work in progress).
This historical context framed my reading of Sandro Galea’s
Within Reason.
This recent book, by an epidemiologist and dean of Boston University School of
Public Health, is not about health care per se; rather it focuses on public
health and the way that discipline responded during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Central to the ideas put forward in this book is that public health is, and
should remain, based on liberal values. These are defined by the author as
those with “…roots in the European Enlightenment, a time when societies began
to organize around reason, free speech, the pursuit of truth, and the
preservation of liberty. Out of these values emerged liberal democracy and
modern science.”
The author’s chief concern about the public health response to the pandemic is
that many public health practitioners, especially those in positions of
influence, “lost their way” during the pandemic, at times eschewing the
discipline’s liberal roots that firmly anchor it in scientific inquiry. The
book is arranged in a series of short, well-referenced chapters that build the
case for a liberal foundation of public health, challenge the “heresies” that
threaten to undermine this foundation, and chart a way forward to a more
hopeful future that learns the lessons of the pandemic."
Via Violet Blue’s
Pandemic Roundup: July 18, 2024
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pandemic-roundup-108356962
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
