19th IAHPE Conference: Capitalism,Pandemics, and Public Health (21-24 September 2023, Thessaloniki, Greece)

Every capitalist epoch has its own characteristics of struggles for health, social justice, and access to health care. The beginning of the decade has been over-shadowed by increased and exaggerated inequities and inequalities of peoples’ health and access to healthcare worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic deep-ened the class divide of access to health, healthcare, and vaccines all over the world. COVID-19 pandemic is an example of a global public health crisis within a planetary health emergency driven by a cynical economic system prioritizing profit making at the expense of planetary needs.

Human engagement with the planet needs to be addressed to understand and prepare public health and healthcare systems for future threats. Ongoing conflicts and wars over resources, triggering nationalism in an increasingly unstable climate, will continue to shape the political economy of health worldwide.

Within the above context, the 19th IAHPE conference will focus on looking forward to preparing for future public health challenges, addressing the following themes, but not exclusively:

• Health care inequities and the struggle for health.
• Planetary health, climate change and health.
• War and conflict and health.
• Migration, forced migration and public health.
• Universal health care and health services’ privatization.
• Access and distribution of vaccines and pharmaceuticals.
• Academic freedom and commodification of public health education.
• Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and public health preparedness.
• Challenges and opportunities for public health.
• Social movements, solidarity, and public health activism.

Abstract submission deadline: 31 May 2023
Abstract submission form and all details will soon be released