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Introduction
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has attracted unprecedented attention within the global health (GH) community, the public and in politics worldwide, overshadowing numerous, long-existing major threats to GH (box 1). While resembling several other pandemics, it is perceived and portrayed as an ultimate threat to GH and security. This view is promoted mainly by high-income countries (HICs),1 but ignores the long-existing challenges especially those affecting children, namely climate change, poverty and hunger.2 3
Major threats to global health*
Climate change, environmental degradation, exploitation of natural resources.
Poverty, hunger, lack of education, inequality, impaired developmental potential.
Fragile and vulnerable settings, injury and violence, conflict and migration.
Non-communicable diseases, unhealthy lifestyles and diets.
Weak health systems, inadequate health service provision.
Infectious diseases (tuberculosis, HIV, malaria, dengue, influenza, Ebola, SARS-CoV-2, and other high-threat pathogens, neglected tropical diseases), antimicrobial resistance, vaccine hesitancy.
*https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/ten-threats-to-global-health -in-2019; https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/children-new-threats-to-health.
Some of these threats, for example, non-communicable diseases4 or tuberculosis, may equally qualify for being designated as a pandemic. The term ‘pandemic’ is usually applied to an infectious disease epidemic occurring in many countries on different continents and usually affecting large numbers of people,4 like the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Here, I shall argue that there are strong reasons to apply the term ‘pandemic’ to the global situation in perinatal and neonatal health (PNH). After a brief review of the epidemiology, I shall focus my deliberations on the four qualities which define the term ‘pandemic’: size of affected population, spatial distribution, temporal profile and ‘being contagious’.4 Finally, I shall explain why designating neonatal deaths and stillbirths as a ‘pandemic’ needs urgent consideration.
Epidemiology
Each year, 135–140 million children are born worldwide, more than 85% of them in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).S1,S2 During the neonatal …
Footnotes
Funding The author has not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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