
The COVID-19 Disruption and the Global Health Challenge
- 1st Edition - November 7, 2023
- Imprint: Academic Press
- Authors: Vincenzo Atella, Pasquale Lucio Scandizzo
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 1 8 5 7 6 - 2
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 1 8 5 7 7 - 9
The COVID-19 pandemic represents an important watershed for modern society. The world will never be the same. Almost all economic and social activities need to be reviewed, re… Read more

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Request a sales quoteThe COVID-19 pandemic represents an important watershed for modern society. The world will never be the same. Almost all economic and social activities need to be reviewed, rethought, and adapted to the new context. The COVID-19 Disruption and the Global Health Challenge explains a complex phenomenon that has left doubts and uncertainties among the many who want to understand.
The book fills some of these gaps by providing answers to a series of questions including why the epidemic originated, how it spread, how it was managed, how long we will have to live with it, what effects did it have on the economy, who will be most affected, how the new world will change us, and how our way of seeing the world will change. Lastly, the book proposes some solutions to prevent and be more prepared to the recurrence of such events as well as to manage them more effectively.
- Clarifies the scientific knowledge around COVID-19
- Provides a multidisciplinary analysis involving biology, economics, epidemiology, medicine, and statistics relating to COVID-19
- Focuses on the need to invest and develop the bioeconomy as the basis of a new global and integrated health system, pulling together conservation, resource economics, and preventive and curative medicine
- Cover image
- Title page
- Table of Contents
- Copyright
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Biography
- Vincenzo Atella
- Pasquale Lucio Scandizzo
- Introduction
- References
- Part 1: How and why all this had an origin
- Chapter 1: The origins of infections
- Abstract
- 1.1. Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses: what are they?
- 1.2. Crowding, hygiene, and climate change: the origins of infections
- References
- Chapter 2: Meaning and dynamics of epidemics
- Abstract
- 2.1. What do we mean by epidemics: some basic notions
- 2.2. The origins of epidemics
- 2.3. The many epidemics of the 21st century: a short history
- 2.4. COVID-19 is only one of the many infectious diseases that spread across the globe
- 2.5. Are we at the dawn of a reversal in the epidemiological transition?
- 2.6. Raising trends in infectious diseases: nothing happens by chance
- 2.7. We live in a non-linear world!
- 2.8. The economic and social costs of epidemics
- References
- Part 2: The COVID-19 crisis management: not an easy task!
- Chapter 3: How did we manage the COVID-19 pandemic?
- Abstract
- 3.1. A contemporary challenge: the political governance and the management of an epidemic
- 3.2. The political management of an epidemic: a mix of leadership and expertise
- 3.3. Were we prepared for a crisis of such magnitude?
- 3.4. A clear example of under-preparedness: the first nine months of the pandemic in Italy
- 3.5. Before any chain of command: planning and prevention plans
- 3.6. If there were mistakes, who made them?
- 3.7. Some final considerations
- References
- Chapter 4: How did we contain the virus: contact tracing, social distancing, and vaccines
- Abstract
- 4.1. NPI interventions: an overview
- 4.2. The anatomy of contact tracing
- 4.3. The use of tracking systems worldwide
- 4.4. The effectiveness of the various virus contrasting strategies (NPIs): did they work?
- 4.5. The role of R&D during the pandemic: where did we do our best?
- 4.6. The arrival of vaccines: the end of a nightmare?
- 4.7. The role of vaccines in the recovery of the economy
- 4.8. Some concluding considerations
- References
- Part 3: The impact of COVID-19 on the economic system
- Chapter 5: Trade-offs and political economy during pandemics
- Abstract
- 5.1. How to evaluate trade-offs? Balance and conflict
- 5.2. The trade-offs imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic
- 5.3. Trade offs and the political economy of a pandemic: a quick review
- References
- Chapter 6: COVID-19 macroeconomics: are we using the right toolbox?
- Abstract
- 6.1. Some macroeconomic stylized facts during the pandemic
- 6.2. The global economy shock
- 6.3. The macroeconomic policy challenges: old tools for new problems?
- 6.4. What happened in the real economy?
- References
- Chapter 7: The effects on the economic systems
- Abstract
- 7.1. A pandemic arrived at the wrong time!
- 7.2. The macro-scenario: the winners and the losers
- 7.3. The fiscal policies to support the economies
- 7.4. Global value chains: are we going back to normal or forward to a new order?
- 7.5. An uncertain future?
- 7.6. The appearance of new inequalities: what is changing?
- References
- Chapter 8: The effects on healthcare systems and health status
- Abstract
- 8.1. Three years after the pandemic's start, what happened to our healthcare system?
- 8.2. Changes in life expectancy
- 8.3. Changes in lifestyles and risky behaviors
- 8.4. The lack of continuity of healthcare services during COVID-19
- 8.5. COVID-19 effects on healthcare systems
- 8.6. The COVID-19 pandemic: a boost toward the European Health Union?
- References
- Part 4: The policy analysis
- Chapter 9: What did we learn after more than 6 million deaths?
- Abstract
- 9.1. More than 6 million deaths… and we are still learning!
- 9.2. The scientific studies' validity problem
- 9.3. Lessons learned during the epidemic management
- 9.4. The lessons for the future: are we prepared for the next ‘black swan’?
- 9.5. Appendix: antibodies and T-cells
- References
- Chapter 10: Bioeconomy, biodiversity, and the human footprint
- Abstract
- 10.1. The role of biodiversity
- 10.2. The bio-economy
- 10.3. COVID-19 and the bio-economy
- 10.4. The exposome
- 10.5. OH and the present health system
- 10.6. Health and nutrition
- 10.7. Bio-economy and energy
- 10.8. The geopolitics of a new OH system
- References
- Part 5: The solutions
- Chapter 11: How to manage the risk of new pandemics
- Abstract
- 11.1. A future with the double burden of infectious and chronic diseases
- 11.2. Epidemiological or health transition?
- 11.3. What can be done?
- 11.4. Mitigating actions
- 11.5. Adaptive measures
- References
- Chapter 12: Epilog
- Abstract
- References
- Appendix A: The epidemiological models
- A.1. Introduction
- A.2. A short primer on epidemiological models
- A.3. The theoretical foundation of public health interventions
- A.4. Models of economic epidemiology
- A.5. The limits of the models: why is it so difficult to estimate and predict the spread of infections?
- A.6. Conclusions
- References
- References
- References
- List of acronyms
- Alphabetical index
- Author index
- Edition: 1
- Published: November 7, 2023
- No. of pages (Paperback): 576
- No. of pages (eBook): 400
- Imprint: Academic Press
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN: 9780443185762
- eBook ISBN: 9780443185779
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Vincenzo Atella
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