Naslov
Fairer and healthier world for everyone – can lessons from the Dubrovnik Republic be applied to the COVID-19 pandemic?

Autori
Lukežić, Marina ; Polašek, Ozren

Izvornik
Croatian Medical Journal (0353-9504) 62 (2021), 2; 107-109

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, uvodnik, stručni

Ključne riječi
COVID-19 ; Global Health ; Humans ; Pandemics ; SARS-CoV-2

Sažetak
Quarantine, isolation, curfew, certificate… Although these words have become popular in 2020 and 2021, they are not new. If you had been around in the Republic of Ragusa, today’s Dubrovnik and the surrounding districts in Croatia, in the 14th and 15th century you would have heard them being used on a daily basis. In 1348, the city was severely affected by the plague, which might have killed as much as two thirds of the city population. In response to this and other epidemics, numerous counter-mechanisms have been developed. One of the first European hospices for the poor was founded in 1347. Each new wave of plague led to the introduction of new measures, and each response seemed like a military operation, with a clear chain of command and society-wide response. Anti-plague measures were firmly rooted in the social, environmental, economic, and political structures of the Republic ; each new episode caused a substantial societal strain, but also gave rise for the measures that contributed to prosperity. The Croatian national response to this modern-day plague, SARS-CoV-2 virus, largely relied on lockdown and systematic epidemic control measures. One thing is certain. We are still plagued by the lack of relevant and timely information. The data available in the public domain are insufficiently harmonized, making the direct comparisons biased, especially across countries and different timelines. On the other hand, our global response to the pandemic remains patchy and consequently less effective than it should be, especially in the domain of vaccine delivery and distribution. This lack of evidence-based, equitable, and global response to the pandemic puts all of us at an increased risk of new variants being generated and will surely extend the need for anti-epidemic measures.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Javno zdravstvo i zdravstvena zaštita

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