Editorial 2021-2022

Nature seems to be giving us warnings through this pandemic to curtail the pace of habitat destruction which accompanies global warming (IPBES, 2020). Climate change and CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, indicate beyond any scientific doubt (IPCC, 2021) that the gravest risks to humanity and to the survival of humankind on this planet are manmade, in what is coined the Anthropocene Age. The many viruses found in native forests and jungles do not disappear when their habitats are destroyed by the action of man.  These eventually will find a new hostage to perpetuate: this time, humans have turned out to be their home destination. It will depend on our level of preparedness for, and the effectiveness of, cooperative strategies across the planet to stop this current threat, so that the various variants of "concern" (Omicron as the latest) which are surging where vaccines have not been sufficiently administered and therefore are putting our medical advances at risk of being inefficient, are eradicated for once and all. 

Covid-19 has also revealed other pre-pandemic trends in human health, the syndemic aspect of this pandemic.  Drivers such as diabetes, malnutrition, poverty, contamination, and crowdedness in big industrialized countries reveal a correlation between these factors with higher rates of infected patients from the undocumented, the immigrants, and the poor.  Inequality issues are, indeed, at the core of this crisis: sanitary, financial, and ethical, as the poor and the less educated have suffered the most. 

As 2021 approaches, countries advance in their rates of vaccination campaigns, and post-pandemic challenges present themselves in economics resetting attuned to green and blue compromises to help the health of the planet recover as well.  

Only 2021 and trends in cooperation between state and non-state actors will inform analysts if the lessons have been truly learned.

 

Soledad Soza, November 2021