Public health in peril? Critical scholarship in times of crisis

It is hard to resist the conclusion that improvements in public health are set for a calamitous reversal. As the US administration’s assault on aid, science, and what is left of the public sector relentlessly unfolds, there are devastating implications globally, as vaccine development and roll out, and support for HIV/AIDS treatment, sexual health, and the broader upstream determinants of well-being and health equity are abandoned and isolationism replaces a commitment to global health governance. Within the USA, fatal outbreaks of measles – declared eliminated in 2000 – have been associated with declines in vaccine coverage as a vaccine-sceptic Health Secretary advocated rolling back ‘big state’ public health measures. His libertarian rhetoric has emboldened states in a raft of measures that threaten health and health equity, such as Florida’s ban on fluoridation of drinking water.