The changing climates of global health

Abstract

The historical trajectories of three crises have converged in the 2020s: the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inequality and the climate crisis. The political, social and institutional arrangements that have collectively constituted 'global health,' and the potential obstacles and possibilities of the COVID-19 pandemic reveal the intersecting challenges of rising inequality and climate crisis. Emerging transformations in global health, accelerated by the sea changes of the 2020s, are characterised by attempts to expand notions of health and social justice encompassing planetary, racial, reproductive and digital justice. In this article, we discuss their intersection and suggest that a new set of organising ideals, institutions and norms will need to emerge from their conjunction if a just and liveable world is to remain a possibility for humans and their cohabitants.