The Polarized Pandemic, Avian Flu in Cambodia, and India's Invisible Chains
March 17, 2023
Editor's Note
Alfred Crosby famously described the great influenza pandemic of 1918 to 1919 as "America's forgotten pandemic"—an event that had few, if any, lasting consequences for the life of the nation. In our first article this week, David P. Fidler considers how COVID-19 will be best remembered, suggesting it will be for the divisive shadow the crisis cast on U.S. public health, domestic politics, and foreign policy.
Our next set of authors from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the Council on Foreign Relations also reflects on COVID-19's repercussions, examining the latest data on the U.S. response to the worst public health disaster of the century. They note that the United States remains an outlier relative to its high-income country peers, in that its performance has not changed much despite the arrival of effective vaccines, an ample supply of doses, and a new president.
Next, Rick A. Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, lauds Cambodia's response to its recent avian flu (H5N1) outbreak. He examines the factors that enabled Institute Pasteur Cambodia's ability to share its findings within twenty-four hours of collecting the first clinical specimen, isolate the exposed people, and collaborate with regional, national, and global bodies to create an effective public health emergency response. Bright says Cambodia is a model that other countries should emulate.
Closing out the week, our final piece discusses the disproportionate burden caregiving imposes on women in India. The author, a woman doctor from India, explains that many women in the country fall into their roles as caregivers due to archaic cultural norms and that they do not always recognize the right to their own interests beyond the cultural obligations to their families. To remedy this situation, she suggests doctors and nurses should help men embrace caregiving duties and provide financial and emotional support to woman caregivers.
As always, thank you for reading.—Thomas J. Bollyky, Editor
