Ethical Challenges in Global Public Health: Climate Change, Pollution, and the Health of the Poor Edited by Philip J. Landrigan and Andrea Vicini, SJ Copyright © 2021 by Philip J. Landrigan and Andrea Vicini, SJ Global Theological Ethics – Book Series Series Editors Jason King, St. Vincent College M. Therese Lysaught, Loyola University Chicago The Global Theological Ethics book series focuses on works that feature authors from around the world, draw on resources from the traditions of Catholic theological ethics, and attend to concrete issues facing the world today. It advances the Journal of Moral Theology’s mission of fostering scholarship deeply rooted in traditions of inquiry about the moral life, engaged with contemporary issues, and exploring the interface of Catholic moral theology philosophy, economics, political philosophy, psychology, and more. This series is sponsored in conjunction with the Catholic Theological Ethics and the World Church. The CTEWC recognizes the need to dialogue from and beyond local cultures and to interconnect within a world church. Its global network of scholars, practitioners, and activists fosters cross-cultural, interdisciplinary conversations—via conferences, symposia, and colloquia, both in- person and virtually—about critical issues in theological ethics, shaped by shared visions of hope. Online versions of the volumes in the Global Theological Ethics series are available for free download as chapters at jmt.scholasticahq.com. Paper copies may be purchased from Wipf & Stock. This dual approach reflects the Journal of Moral Theology’s commitment to the common good as it seeks to make the scholarship of Catholic theological ethicists broadly available, especially across borders. Series Titles Ethical Challenges in Global Public Health: Climate Change, Pollution, and the Health of the Poor, edited by Philip J. Landrigan and Andrea Vicini, SJ (2021) In gratitude to the Boston College community and to everyone who is promoting global public health. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We express our deep gratitude to our many colleagues, at Boston College, across the USA, and internationally, who generously shared their passion and expertise with us in reflecting on the ethical challenges that confront global public health in our world today and in making this book possible. The Boston College community – with its dedicated faculty, students, administrators, and staff, its commitment to science, and its foundation in social justice – provides a fertile and welcoming environment for ethically grounded education, research, and practice in global public health. Boston College has enabled us to build a program in global public health that is committed to promoting the common good, advancing justice, and caring for the Earth – our common home – in these troubled times. For all of this, we are deeply thankful. This volume relies on and joins diverse academic initiatives at Boston College that foster this ethos and that aim at training citizens attentive to the ethical calls of global public health across the planet. In particular, within the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, we mention the minor in Global Public Health and the Common Good, the forthcoming major in Global Public Health and the Common Good, the recently launched major in Human-Centered Engineering, together with the minor in Medical Humanities, Health, and Culture, and the Environmental Studies program. Philip J. Landrigan and Andrea Vicini, SJ CONTENTS Introduction Global Public Health and the Promotion of the Common Good Andrea Vicini, SJ ..................................................................... 1 Part 1: Setting the Context Health and Climate Change Walter Ricciardi and Laura Mancini ........................................ 14 The Vital Contribution of Independent, Ethically Grounded Research to the Global Health Agenda Kurt Straif .................................................................................. 28 Part 2: The Changing Context of Global Public Health Challenges Confronting Global Public Health Keith Martin. .............................................................................. 40 Pollution, Climate Change, and Global Public Health: Social Justice and the Common Good Philip J. Landrigan. ................................................................... 53 Global Public Health and Catholic Insights: Collaboration on Enduring Challenges Michael D. Rozier, SJ. .............................................................. 63 The Affordable Care Act and Pharmaceuticals: An Economic Perspective Tracy L. Regan. .......................................................................... 75 Part 3: Global Public Health Ethics Social Structures and Global Public Health Ethics Daniel J. Daly. ........................................................................... 84 Ethics and Equity in Global Health: The Preferential Option for the Poor Alexandre A. Martins ................................................................. 96 Social Justice and the Common Good: Improving the Catholic Social Teaching Framework Lisa Sowle Cahill ..................................................................... 106 Part 4: International Approaches to Global Public Health Challenges in Global Health, Culture, and Ethics in Africa Jacquineau Azetsop, SJ. ........................................................... 119 Public Health Concerns in India: A Review Stanislaus Alla, SJ ................................................................ 131 A European Take on Global Public Health: Applying the Catholic Principle of Subsidiarity to Global Health Governance Thana Cristina de Campos. ..................................................... 141 Part 5: Building an Ethical Framework for Education and Research in Global Public Health Inequities as an Ethical Imperative: Challenges Related to Identification, Engagement, and Interventions in Minority Health Nadia N. Abuelezam. ................................................................ 153 Addressing Health Disparities Among Families: Policy Approaches to Improve Infant Health Summer Sherburne Hawkins. ................................................... 165 Humanitarian Aid, Infectious Diseases, and Global Public Health Nils Hennig ............................................................................... 181 Conclusion An Ethical Agenda for Global Public Health Paul E. Farmer and Andrea Vicini, SJ ..................................... 193 Introduction Journal of Moral Theology Global Public Health and the Promotion of the Common Good Andrea Vicini, SJ ITH THE CATCHY TITLE of “Can public health save the world?” for its July 2020 COVID-19 special issue, the Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health magazine explored various issues raised by the global pandemic caused by W 1 the coronavirus called COVID-19. To answer, the magazine’s articles spanned from the past to the present and then speculated about the future. First, authors focused on what led to the global pandemic—the prequel—with the historical lessons unlearned and the public health policies underfunded that facilitated the spreading of the pandemic.2 Second, concentrating on the present, on what the magazine described as “the fight,” the authors considered what was occurring and how effective it might be.3 Third, while thinking about the future might 1 See Ellen J. MacKenzie, “Let’s Fix Things for Good: COVID-19 Is Teaching Us a Brutal Lesson: Invest in Public Health or Suffer the Consequences,” Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health, COVID-19 Special Issue (2020): 1–2. 2 See Tom Inglesby, “Never Rest: Big Biological Threats over the Last Couple of Decades Have Taught Us One Thing: More Are on the Way,” Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health, COVID-19 Special Issue (2020): 7; Carrie Arnold, “Caught Off Guard: How Policies for Preparedness Could—and Should—Have Protected Us,” Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health, COVID-19 Special Issue (2020): 8–9. 3 See Carrie Arnold, “Countering the Infodemic: Misinformation About SARS-CoV- 2 Is as Contagious as the Virus Itself,” Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health, COVID- 19 Special Issue (2020): 24–25; Carrie Arnold, “The Natural Fix: An Old-School Approach—Using Antibodies from COVID-19 Survivors—May Be a Fast, Stop-Gap Solution for a Modern Pandemic,” Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health, COVID-19 Special Issue (2020): 31–33; Jackie Powder, “Coping with COVID-19: A Global Approach to Universal Psychological Responses,” Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health, COVID-19 Special Issue (2020): 37; Christen Brownlee, “A Crisis within a Crisis: The Pandemic Has Created a Convergence of Suicide Risk Factors That Also Need a Public Health Response,” Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health, COVID-19 Special Issue (2020): 38–39; Cathy Shufro, “Breaking the Chain: One COVID-19 Patient Could Lead to Thousand New Cases: Contact Tracers Use Calls, Texts, and Personal Persuasion to Prevent That from Happening,” Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health, COVID-19 Special Issue (2020): 13–15; Karen Kruse Thomas and Dayna Kerecman Myers, “Racism and COVID-19,” Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health, COVID-19 Special Issue (2020): 16–17; Laura Wexler and Brennen Jensen, “Voices of the Vulnerable: For Asylum Seekers, the Incarcerated, Frontline Doctors, and Others, 2 Andrea Vicini, SJ generate anxiety because of unforeseen factors and the uncertainty that they generate, the authors felt it was necessary to investigate where planning might still be insufficient.4 With no ambition of covering all the needed topics, and by articulating concerns and