A Public Health Expert Says The Pandemic Is The Tip Of The Iceberg When It Comes To Health, Equity, And Social Justice

"Complexity is the defining business and leadership challenge of our time. But it has never felt more urgent than this moment, with the coronavirus upending life and business as we know it. For the next few weeks, we’ll be talking to leaders about what it takes to lead through the most complex and confounding problems, and about Brody Moments (from Jaws’ Police Chief Brody and his famous line “you’re going to need a bigger boat”) related to the coronavirus. Today we talk with Mary Pittman, President and CEO of the Public Health Institute (PHI), a nationally recognized leader in improving community health, addressing health inequities among vulnerable people and promoting quality of care. Pittman assumed the reins at PHI in 2008, becoming the organization's second president and CEO since its founding in 1964. Pittman has deep, varied and multi-sectoral experience in local public health, research, education and hospitals, and has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and two books."

David and David: What do you see with respect to equity in healthcare, social determinants of health, and social justice?

‍Mary: I view the pandemic as an iceberg. You’re only seeing the tip, and what’s below the water-level is systemic under-funding, exclusion, inability to access badly-needed healthcare, untreated chronic diseases, unaddressed mental health issues, and biases and racism. Without the right support in place, people end up without homes and/or unable to care for themselves, and that makes them much more vulnerable. We’ve seen that people with social disparities, especially people of color, are at a higher risk of getting and dying from Covid-19. We’re paying the price for ignoring the research about the importance of investing in the social determinants of health.

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David and David: Any other advice you can offer? Parting words?

‍Mary: Viruses know no borders and don’t respect political parties. We have to come together to solve these problems. We will get through this pandemic, but to avoid too many lives being lost unnecessarily in this and future crises, we need to be diligent and focused on the importance of public health and on the need for public health infrastructure. That infrastructure can’t go through more years of neglect because when a crisis hits, you can’t both build and fly the plane. I’m optimistic that with the support and collaboration of the business and the public health community, broader goodwill, and the energy and optimism of younger people, we can build a better, more just, and more resilient world.

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Learn more:

Source: David Benjamin and David Komlos, (2020, July 27). A Public Health Expert Says The Pandemic Is The Tip Of The Iceberg When It Comes To Health, Equity, And Social Justice. Forbes, Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com.

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https://www.phi.org/