Globally, public health* is under an unprecedented attack. Sweeping funding cuts to aid programs, loss of the essential workforce and services in disease monitoring and prevention, and the abrupt cancelling of research that addresses inequity are just the tip of the iceberg.
At the Sydney School of Public Health, our vision is to promote and protect health equity and wellbeing for all populations and the environments we share, nationally and globally. We cannot be silent while the work to promote and protect health is being so rapidly undermined and undone.
We have a very proud history in Australia of leading innovation in public health research, practice, education, and policy. Gun control. Vaccination. Road safety. Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Folate fortification. Tobacco control. Fluoridated Water. Medicare. Cancer Screening. The list of public health success stories is long and wide-ranging, but at the heart, each are guided by core values of equity, impact, evidence, purpose, and collective good. These successes and values are part of an Australian tradition of bipartisan support that sees public health programs go beyond election cycles.
The United States of America public health crisis has ignited fear and concern that the huge loss of infrastructure and expertise could happen elsewhere, including in Australia. Acknowledging that our public health approach is very different, the events happening in the USA have immediate and ongoing global impacts. Upholding commitments to science, inclusivity, and humanity is not a radical act, but is fundamental to protecting the health gains we have made and ensuring we continue to do so for future generations.
Reaffirming and stabilising public health from these attacks, can also be harnessed as a time to improve and strengthen our work. Being transparent and honest about shortcomings and mistakes, including those made during the COVID-19 pandemic are vital to retain trust. Public health must then also reckon with its own blind spots and harms, especially the role it has played in the wrongs against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout Australia’s colonial history.
Successful public health is often marked by what doesn’t happen. The people who don’t die early from lung cancer, the child who doesn’t get measles, the gun that was never fired. However, things that don’t happen don’t attract attention and don’t get reported in the news. Public health’s focus on prevention renders these successes invisible. Defending public health requires making this invisible success prominent and non-negotiable.
Public health is a necessary service and an invaluable social public good. Quite simply, public health is for everyone. We stand with our colleagues around the world in defending public health and call on all governments and all political parties to also voice their unwavering commitment to public health.