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IMAGINE |
"We want sanitary statesmen as much as investigators. We need organizers and propagandists for the cause of health, capable of building wisely the great scheme of health protection of the future and of enlisting in its support the enthusiastic cooperation of the peoples of the earth." CEA Winslow, 1920. |
Imagine getting to zero.
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Zero infant deaths. Zero maternal deaths following childbirth. Zero sexually transmitted infections. Zero sexual violence. Zero AIDS deaths. Zero addictions. Zero suicides. Zero unnecessary suffering in so many other arenas.
Everything we do, we do to advance human flourishing, embracing that possibility for all. We measure successful public policy by health, of movement towards the collective good by health. In fact, we define the 'good life' by guaranteeing to all the children born here the 'birthright of health and longevity'. Innovative public health leverages the synergy of four fundamental elements to create change: a moral vision, a focus on moving back to the basics, putting technologies old and new to good use, and pinpointing the best best intervention points to make systemic, long lasting change. Do you want to join the movement? |
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ABOUT THE FOUR ELEMENTS |
Moral VisionI believe a better world is the why and the purpose of public health. That purpose demands strong and effective moral leadership not just as public health officials, but also as policy setters and lawmakers.
It also demands a dose of humility, because our children will see farther than we do now what further changes will remain to be made in their lifetimes and the lifetimes of their children. "The moral sense of humankind repudiates the rigorous application of the principle of unhindered natural selection... we can apply our social energy and our community funds to make good the deficiencies [of genetics and environment] in the beginning." |
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After the great earthquake and fire in San Francisco, plague spread -- and the health department issued a bounty on rats, as this 1907 photograph shows.
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#BacktoBasicsSanitation. Contagion control. Education. Access. Proactive Medicine. Social relations. Contact tracing.
The basics of public health have been with us for over a century. To innovate, we must remember our roots. From there, we grow: placing public health into positions of authority over the environment, agriculture, labor, urban planning, education, energy, budget, and human services. "The task of the health officer is to save lives, and to save as many lives as possible, by the intelligent application of the resources placed at his or her disposal." |
Tech!It's easy to think of technology as innovative -- but beyond development, public health must uptake that new technology, or it will lag behind. It will lag behind not just in implementation, but will miss contributing to the vision for the next opportunity.
And tech isn't all about software development and big data. Materials technology like rapid diagnostic tests, and low tech, like landmine sniffing rats, supply chain coordination, and simple messaging, are all components for increasing the reach of public health. "Yet we need not wait for any of the great discoveries of the future to make the public health campaign of the present day bear fruit" |
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Systemic ChangeWhen we have a moral vision and focus on the fundamentals, we can identify the social and political determinants and systems which continue to promote poor health among our communities. Through creative use of the tools given to us by emerging technologies, data, and old-fashioned imagination, we can champion interventions which create lasting change.
"The canker of ... disease gnaws at the very root of our national strength. The sufferers are not few or insignificant. They are the bread winners for at least a third part of our population... That they have causes of disease indolently left to blight them amid their toil... is surely an intolerable wrong. And to be able to redress that wrong is perhaps among the greatest opportunities for good which human institutions can afford." |
Putting it together craftMoral change takes imagination, creativity, and courage. To lead change means talking to people. Putting social interaction at the centre of the numbers -- and the solutions. Find the network behind the systems we live in, craft appropriate and persuasive messaging that resonates with the historical and every-day experience of the target audiences, and you will make a change the reverberates for generations.
Our basic task is to save lives, mitigate unnecessary suffering, and promote the flourishing of human life and opportunity "within the complex web of community life." We just happen to do this in the arena of human health. Got a quote you think I should cite? Let me know. |
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