Effective vaccines are developed through collaboration between governments, publicly funded research universities and for-profit pharmaceutical companies. But the incentives to produce the doses can often leave out lower-income countries. The Covid-19 pandemic is still raging across the world, with some countries such as India experiencing unprecedented infection numbers with significant effects on both population health, […]
Category: Health, physical & mental
Wellbeing is improved when people live longer, healthier lives. Measuring changes in life experience as well as life expectancy will enable richer evaluation of policies. Policy responses to Covid-19 have been remarkably similar around the world – from lockdowns to mask-wearing mandates. In one way or another, non-medical policies designed to control the spread of […]
Young people’s mental health has suffered more than that of older age groups during the pandemic. There is a particular need for support for vulnerable children, teenagers and young adults to prevent existing inequalities in education and employment from widening. Over the course of the pandemic, young people’s education, jobs and social lives have been […]
Targeted policies such as test and trace can help to control the spread of Covid-19 while limiting the economic and mental health costs associated with lockdowns. But the incentives need to be right to ensure fairness and compliance. The combination of widespread testing and contact tracing – often shortened to ‘test and trace’ – can […]
Rising prices are having a disproportionately negative impact on people with disabilities: their living costs are typically higher and they are often excluded from full economic participation, particularly employment. Benefits offer limited support as they are falling behind the cost of living. The disastrous rise in living costs in the UK will have a disproportionately […]
The Covid-19 crisis has stretched already limited mental health support in low- and middle-income countries. Interventions that make use of accessible technology may offer scalable, low-cost solutions in resource-poor settings. The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on people’s mental health around the world. While the physical health effects – particularly the four million […]
Healthcare systems face a growing burden from environmental hazards like air pollution and extreme weather events. As major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, they are also seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. National healthcare systems are the first in line when the health of the population is shaken by climate change and other environmental hazards. […]
Covid-19 has taken a heavy toll on everyone’s wellbeing, but we have all coped in different ways. Those of us whose stronger personality traits are extraversion and openness have experienced greater declines in mental health; those whose stronger trait is agreeableness have coped better. While we might first associate Covid-19 with its effects on physical […]
Much discussion of social care during the pandemic has focused on the elderly. But young people with learning difficulties have been particularly badly affected, both in terms of their health and loss of services. Long-standing weakness in England’s system of social care, combined with policy mistakes early in the Covid-19 crisis, contributed to high infection […]
The recent announcement that antiviral treatments for Covid-19 will soon be available may reduce people’s incentives to avoid becoming infected and potentially lessen their readiness to practice social distancing or indeed to get vaccinated. More than at any other time in living memory, the experience of Covid-19 has shown the frightening power of infectious diseases […]