Dr Grania Brigden

Director, TB Department, The International Union Against TB and Lung Disease

For years, those of us working to end tuberculosis have witnessed the damage that comes from viewing public health as a non-priority. 

Widespread failure to invest in public health has left our societies profoundly vulnerable to pandemics of communicable disease.  

National leaders must learn lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic that will help accelerate progress toward ending TB, while safeguarding communities from future pandemics.  

The most important lessons? We simply cannot afford to short-change public health. We must protect the most vulnerable in our communities.  

Where poverty and stigma persist, communicable diseases like TB and COVID-19 take an even greater toll. Ensuring equitable access to the tools needed to end the COVID-19 pandemic will also be the first step in building back our health systems.  

But we cannot return to the old normal.  

COVID-19 wake-up call 

If it wasn’t TB, HIV/AIDS, SARS or Ebola, COVID-19 must be the wake-up call policymakers need to permanently place public health on par with national security and economic matters.  

To be sure, national leaders have a dizzying number of issues, interests and constituencies to deal with every day, so the scientific community should meet them halfway. 

When conducting research, we must think early and often about how findings support policy, and seek out the platforms, avenues and relationships critical for reaching policymakers.  

The rise of virtual collaboration makes it easier than ever. It even allows for innovations in advocacy, like virtual policymaker and journalist delegations, where they can see public health research and interventions anywhere in the world. 

We can also make scientific publishing more efficient. The Union, for example, is fast-tracking articles on TB and COVID-19, making findings available within days after peer-review so they can better aid decision-making. 

COVID-19 has put public health on the top of the global policy agenda. We must do all we can to keep it there. 

Keep COVID-19 at the top of the agenda 

At the grassroots level, we need more investment in scientific literacy for activists, survivors and affected communities. An equitable approach to public health is possible only if communities are equipped to advocate for their right to access the perennial fruits of scientific discovery.  

COVID-19 has put public health on the top of the global policy agenda. We must do all we can to keep it there.