IN RESPONDING TO COVID CRISIS, PRIORITISE HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH, LEARNING LESSONS FROM FIRST WAVE!

The pandemic’s 2nd wave has exposed the abysmal state of its public health system and the poor quality and pace of response of central and state governments. [...] Given that impacts of climate change and other ecological damage and impending pandemics, that are predicted to become more frequent in the coming decades, the full focus of economic activities in the name of ‘development’ from now on must be on human and environmental health and well-being. [...] Immediate and short-term measures for livelihoods The second wave has proven to be more deadly, and once again we see the mass movement of migrant workers returning to their homes in many parts of India, as the fears of the lockdown and lack of government support remains a haunting memory from 2020. [...] Significantly improving access to determinants of health: Through all the above steps, there has to be much greater stress on access to the important social determinants of health like water of sufficient quality and quantity, clean air, nutritious and safe (organic) food, creative work, opportunities for recreation and enjoyment, and so on; in general, a stress on preventing illness and disease i. [...] It rejects the current model of development and the structures of inequality and injustice underlying it, and searches for alternatives in practice and vision.