That everything is connected is no longer only said by Pope Francis but also by the World Health Organization. It is a fact that the global shock of the pandemic has had markedly different effects in the different territories and social classes depending on how a series of social, environmental and economic variables interacted with the spread of the virus.
This is why two of the new slogans coined by international organizations are those of ‘one health’ (a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to health that brings together different disciplines of a medical, social and environmental nature to better address its impacts on the population) and sindemia’ which is defined by the Treccani encyclopedia as “the set of health, environmental, social and economic problems produced by the synergistic interaction of two or more communicable and non-communicable diseases, characterized by heavy repercussions, in particular on the disadvantaged population groups” . In order to face and solve a problem we must first make a correct diagnosis and then propose the appropriate remedies. The concepts indicated above help us to take the first step by grasping correlations and interdependencies.
The recently released Oxfam inequality report estimates that if the black population in the United States had the same average access to care as the white population, about 22,000 deaths would have been spared. A completely different inequality of effects from us is the environmental one for which a region such as Lombardy has had a mortality per inhabitant double compared to the national one. Basically the virus is always the same but its ability to cause damage is enormously different depending on the surrounding environmental, social and economic factors. What counts is not only the quality of health systems and the quality of access to them for the various segments of the population, but also the quality of the air which aggravates the diseases, and even the conditions of wealth / poverty of meaning of life which aggravate psychological factors that can make the therapy more or less effective to fight the disease.
It is for these reasons that in the article published yesterday on Lancet we talk together with colleagues from other disciplines (medical and economic) such as Alessandro Miani, Antonio Felice Uricchio and Alessandro Distante about the need for a ‘social vaccine’ to counter the effects of the pandemic and contribute in the future to building more resilient and less risky societies pandemics. To move towards this goal, a set of responses is needed that act simultaneously on the various factors that have aggravated the impact of the pandemic. The aspect of environmental sustainability is certainly fundamental and can be significantly improved specifically with some policies to this.
Two examples. The first is the use of the 110% tax credit linked to the replacement of heating systems that produce polluting dust which would reduce their concentration by half which, according to estimates by the World Health Organization, produces about 218 deaths a day in the country, increasing the exposure and severity of the effects of respiratory and lung diseases. The second concerns the introduction of forced ventilation systems in closed places (schools and offices) which guarantee air exchange and reduce the risk of spreading viruses, systems already adopted in German schools.
As for the social aspect, it is not difficult to understand that investments in education and health with particular attention to the factors of inequality of access (for example investments to guarantee the minimum levels of assistance) are crucial to reduce inequalities of care which also significantly affect the our country where public health is for everyone. Finally, there remains the issue of attention to generativity and the factors that affect the richness of meaning in life and work must become increasingly central in the future.
We never tire of remembering that people are essentially and first of all seekers of meaning and commitment to equal opportunities, freedom of initiative and the creation of conditions that allow everyone to be recognized and able to offer their contribution. it must become fundamental in our economic and social policies. Situations such as those of the epidemic of deaths of despair studied in the United States by the nobel Angus Deaton must not happen in our society. We have all the cultural resources to avoid it and to build that ‘social vaccine’ that will make our society more resilient to this pandemic and the risks of future ones.
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