AUTHOR=Hoven Hanno , Dragano Nico , Angerer Peter , Apfelbacher Christian , Backhaus Insa , Hoffmann Barbara , Icks Andrea , Wilm Stefan , Fangerau Heiner , Söhner Felicitas TITLE=Striving for Health Equity: The Importance of Social Determinants of Health and Ethical Considerations in Pandemic Preparedness Planning JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health VOLUME=67 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2022.1604542 DOI=10.3389/ijph.2022.1604542 ISSN=1661-8564 ABSTRACT=

Since the WHO’s “Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plan” in 1999, pandemic preparedness plans at the international and national level have been constantly adapted with the common goal to respond early to outbreaks, identify risks, and outline promising interventions for pandemic containment. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts have started to reflect on the extent to which previous preparations have been helpful as well as on the gaps in pandemic preparedness planning. In the present commentary, we advocate for the inclusion of social and ethical factors in future pandemic planning—factors that have been insufficiently considered so far, although social determinants of infection risk and infectious disease severity contribute to aggravated social inequalities in health.