Beyond global health: Redefining the ‘public’ in public health

Abstract

The world has seen unprecedented changes over the last 50 years, with enormous gains in human health and living standards. Global public health has been a part of this transition to an interconnected and interdependent world, evolving from a medically based international health perspective to a global health discipline focusing on the social determinants of health and systems thinking. As we now face global challenges such as climate change, the loss of biodiversity and antimicrobial resistance, global public health needs to be transformed yet again. Public health needs to redefine its focus. To expand the scope beyond the anthropocentric – and to include nature and our planet as subjects and not merely resources for human well-being – is of the essence.