The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption worldwide highlighting once again the interdependency of health and socioeconomic development, and the global lack of health systems resilience. Two years into the pandemic, most countries report sustained disruptions across service delivery platforms and health areas with a profound impact on health outcomes. The impact of these disruptions is magnified within marginalized communities and in countries experiencing protracted conflict. There is an urgent need to focus on recovery through investment in the essential public health functions (EPHFs) and the foundations of health systems with a focus on primary health care, and whole-of-government and -society engagement. The aim of this Research Topic is to gather, transfer and promote operationalization of key experiences from COVID-19 to inform global and country level recovery that better promote health; guide policy direction towards building health systems resilience; and thereby ensure economic and social prosperity. Experience with COVID-19 has demonstrated that traditional approaches to health system strengthening have failed to achieve the complementary goals of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and health security with the divide between the most vulnerable and well-off only widening. Much of what had been learned from previous experiences such as Ebola in West Africa has not been widely applied. This has left health and economic systems vulnerable to 21 st century public health challenges, ranging from conflict and natural disasters to aging demographics and rising rates of non-communicable and communicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance. These challenges require intentional focus and investment as well as whole-of-government and -society engagement with health to build health system resilience. Greater action is needed to prevent the devastating effects of war and conflict on the health of the most vulnerable. This Research Topic will convene the knowledge and practices of leaders in public health, health systems, and humanitarian and development sectors. This is to ensure lessons from COVID-19 inform the recovery agenda and promote sustainable health and socioeconomic recovery for all. Lest we forget and find ourselves again unprepared and vulnerable in the face of an even greater threat.

Public Health and Beyond in Latin America and the Caribbean: Reflections from the Field explores the diverse and complex public health landscape, from global to regional to local, by considering historical and socio-cultural factors to contextualize the ongoing public health crisis. Drawing on four decades of field experience, research, and teaching, Sherri L. Porcelain uses case studies to offer a realistic view of the public heath struggle in Latin America and the Caribbean. Using specific countries as regional examples, the book shows how population health has been inextricably linked to political, economic, social, cultural, ethical, ecological, environmental, and technological factors. Chapters in this book will examine the history of public health issues associated with international development, globalization and the international political economy, disasters, diplomacy, and security studies coupled with the changing role of key actors driving the global and regional agendas. The final chapter examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and what it means for the future of public health. This book is recommended for undergraduate students interested in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean as well as others concerned with global and regional population health challenges.

Now in a fully revised, extended and updated new edition, this is the only book to offer a comparative overview of the development of elite sport systems around the world. The book examines sport policies and programmes in 20 developed and developing countries that have achieved international sporting success, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Brazil, Russia, Australia, and South Korea, helping the reader to understand the factors behind that success. For each country, it sets out the historical and political context in which elite sport has developed, before explaining the country-specific structures of elite sport and the investment that each country has made in elite sport development. The book also considers how countries have used the hosting of mega-events as sport policy tools, and how factors such as geo-politics, states’ governance and political ideology, and levels of economic development, all have influence on national sport policy. Introducing the foundational concepts and principles of elite sport policy and development, and showing how those policies shape global sport, this book is fascinating reading for all students, researchers, policymakers and practitioners working in sport development, sport policy, sport management, event management, public policy, and political science.

Diplomacy, Society and the COVID-19 Challenge brings together authors from various disciplinary backgrounds to examine the impacts of the pandemic on world politics and international relations, focusing on diplomacy and national, regional, and global responses to COVID-19. The authors adopt a critical perspective which questions the general assumption that security is only related to state security. The book’s first part deals with diplomacy and COVID-19, exploring forms such as virtual, digital, and science diplomacy. The second part, on national and regional responses to COVID-19, provides a detailed evaluation of the foreign policies of states and regional actors and the national/regional impacts of the pandemic. The third part investigates the responses of international organisations, such as NATO and the OECD, to COVID-19’s transformative and disruptive effects. This book will be of interest to students, scholars, and researchers of international relations, diplomacy, security studies, global governance, political science, political economy, and global public health, especially those with a particular focus on COVID-19 and how it has changed the world.

This provocative book interrogates the ideology of capitalism as the "default" narrative underpinning various mainstream ideologies in the contemporary world. The book explores the genesis, structure and functioning of this ideological narrative, provides its critical assessment and outlines a possible alternative, beyond the logic of capitalism and toward a truly free and democratic society. The book takes a broad view of the major global challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and persuasively argue that, in order to resolve any of the major global problems, from the ongoing ecological crisis to economic and geopolitical issues, we need to confront the capitalist system. To unpack the logic of contemporary capitalist ideology, and the way it structures our inter-personal and political relations, the book gives an analysis of the "end of ideology" narrative and offers a critical assessment of the ideas behind the widely used but fundamentally flawed concept of "Liberal democracy." The book revisits metaphysical foundations behind the ideology of capitalism, exposing their secular-religious dimension, and their immanent oppressiveness. Based on this deconstruction of the metaphysical foundations implicit in (Neo)Liberalism and capitalism, the book offers a way in which alternative metaphysical foundations can be constructed to allow for different socio-political and economic models that would be based on a radical affirmation of freedom and democracy, as well as human responsibility for the natural environment. Beyond Capitalist Dystopia: Reclaiming Freedom and Democracy in the Age of Global Crises will be of great interest to anyone searching for alternatives to the pervasive ideology of capitalism as well as students and researchers active in various fields in the humanities and social sciences.

"Public health is concerned with the process of mobilizing local, state/provincial, national, and international resources to assure the conditions in which all people can be healthy (Detels and Breslow 2002). To successfully implement this process and to make health for all achievable, public health must perform the functions listed in Box 1.1.1"--

In addition to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic at the state and system level, called high politics, this book discusses how it has affected people’s inner worlds and daily lives. Including religious, historical, social, linguistic, and legal analyses, it offers different and broad perspectives on the effects of COVID-19. The book also questions the shape international security has taken in the aftermath of the pandemic.

This book brings together a diverse, international array of contributors to explore the topics of news “quality” in the online age and the relationships between news organizations and enormously influential digital platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Covering topics ranging from internet incivility, crowdsourcing, and YouTube politics to regulations, algorithms, and AI, this book draws the key distinction between the news that facilitates democracy and news that undermines it. For students and scholars as well as journalists, policymakers, and media commentators, this important work engages a wide range of methodological and theoretical perspectives to define the key concept of “quality” in the news media.