Pandemic shows global need to take public health seriously: WCM-Q research

Doha: Research published by the Institute for Population Health (IPH) at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) says that the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates an urgent need to take public health far more seriously at both national and international levels. 

The research states that in almost all countries around the world there has been inadequate investment in public health and prevention programs, very little public health training in medical education, and chronic underinvestment in public health research. Indeed, in 2017 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries invested only 2.8 percent of their total health expenditure in public health, according to the research.  The paper, titled ‘The single most important lesson from COVID-19 – It is time to take public health seriously,’ demonstrates that investment in preventive care in high-income nations has stagnated in recent decades, despite the staggering returns of public health interventions in terms of improved life expectancy, reduced infant mortality, improved quality of life, and value for money.