Social And Ethical Issues Of Global Pandemics

The COVID-19 Pandemic will be seen as having had a profound effect on how we live and work, as well its economic and health repercussions. But it also brought ethical issues and challenges into focus, from ‘Fake News’ to issues of individual freedom. This edited collection addresses these issues and others, including vaccine distribution, incentivization, administration, and mandates; the unprecedented challenges faced by healthcare workers; crisis communication and response conundrums: and societal burdens. This is a companion book to Ethical Implications of COVID-19 Management: Evaluating the Aftershock, also published by Ethics International Press.

"This book examines the social, legal, and ethical dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic in Southern Africa both during the pandemic and in the post-COVID era. The contributors analyze the regulations that were passed during COVID-19 and evaluate the impact of these regulations on African society"--

This topical volume illuminates ethical issues brought to the fore by the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on a broad range of case studies from different regions, it provides insights into the multiple and complex ways in which the pandemic has shaped media ethics. The chapters employ a wide range of innovative theoretical and methodological approaches to dissect enduring and emerging ethical questions during the pandemic, providing lucid accounts of axiological dimensions in pandemic discourses, ethics of emotional mood, ethical challenges and dilemmas in news reporting, propaganda, misinformation, disinformation and Othering. While the case studies in this book are unique, the authors have extrapolated common strands from their analysis of ethical issues applicable to any other country or region during the pandemic, contributing unique perspectives on how media ethics are circumscribed by global health pandemics. The book will appeal to researchers, academics and practitioners at all levels in the fields of media studies, journalism, communication, media sociology and public health, as well as general readers and policymakers who are keen to learn more about how global health crises illuminate critical ethical issues confronting the media.

This book directly addresses the social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. It does so by focusing on both the immediate effects during the pandemic and the lockdowns, as well as the issues related to the long-term social consequences that are likely to result from the economic crisis in the coming years. To date, most philosophical essays and books have focused on the health aspects of the pandemic, and in particular on the fields of medical ethics and public health ethics. Containing a truly international and interdisciplinary group of scholars, a unique and global perspective is offered on the rarely discussed social and economic consequences of the pandemic. This book is of great interest to academic philosophers, but also to researchers from the social sciences. "This collection contributes significantly to our understanding of the ethics of pandemics, drawing our attention to existing injustices and inequities that have been laid bare by the COVID crisis. Perhaps just as important is the way in which it seeks to connect theory to practice. In short, it provides a compelling identification of ethical issues and potential resolutions to injustices highlighted by the pandemic. It would be valuable for anyone working in areas of global justice, social justice, international ethics, immigration, or international political theory." Joshua J. Kassner (Professor, Division of Legal, Ethical and Historical Studies, University of Baltimore) "For those who wish to gain both a deep and wide understanding of the societal consequences of the Covid-19 global pandemic, especially with a focus on ethics and fairness from an expansive array of perspectives, a deep dive into this book will be time well spent. The book deserves to find its footing with as wide an audience as possible. It is both ambitious and timely." Michael J. Stevens (Brady Distinguished Presidential Professor, Weber State University).

In this timely and vital collection a global team of philosophers, lawyers, economists, and bioethicists review the COVID-19 pandemic and ask not only 'Did our societies make the right ethical choices?' but also 'What lessons must we learn before the next pandemic?'

A portion of the revenue from this book’s sales will be donated to Doctors Without Borders to assist in the fight against COVID-19. The rapid spread of COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on modern health-care systems and has given rise to a number of complex ethical issues. This collection of readings and case studies offers an overview of some of the most pressing of these issues, such as the allocation of ventilators and other scarce resources, the curtailing of standard privacy measures for the sake of public health, and the potential obligations of health-care professionals to continue operating in dangerous work environments.

In recent public workshops and working group meetings, the Forum on Microbial Threats of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has examined a variety of infectious disease outbreaks with pandemic potential, including those caused by influenza (IOM, 2005) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (IOM, 2004). Particular attention has been paid to the potential pandemic threat posed by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which is now endemic in many Southeast Asian bird populations. Since 2003, the H5N1 subtype of avian influenza has caused 185 confirmed human deaths in 11 countries, including some cases of viral transmission from human to human (WHO, 2007). But as worrisome as these developments are, at least they are caused by known pathogens. The next pandemic could well be caused by the emergence of a microbe that is still unknown, much as happened in the 1980s with the emergence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and in 2003 with the appearance of the SARS coronavirus. Previous Forum meetings on pandemic disease have discussed the scientific and logistical challenges associated with pandemic disease recognition, identification, and response. Participants in these earlier meetings also recognized the difficulty of implementing disease control strategies effectively. Ethical and Legal Considerations in Mitigating Pandemic Disease: Workshop Summary as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop.

This book addresses the many ethical issues and extraordinary risks that nurses and others are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic, which creates physical, emotional, and economic burdens, affecting nurses' overall health and well-being. Nurses are essential front-line clinicians across all health care settings and in every nation. The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel SARs-CoV-2 virus has affected children, adults, and communities within and across all societies. Nurses, too, have contracted the virus and died from the disease. They have also seen their colleagues, family members, and friends hospitalized or in intensive care units struggling to survive. Nursing’s professionalism and disciplinary resolve to care for patients and families amidst confusion, misinformation, and shifting guidelines has been called “heroic” by the public. How much risk should nurses be expected to accept during a pandemic? How do nurses help patients and families find comfort and dignity at the end-of-life? How do we help nurses who are suffering from moral distress and mental health concerns from what they have seen, been asked to do, or are unable to provide? And, how does society move forward from a pandemic that has challenged our basic ethical principles of justice and what is “fair, good and right” in caring for those who need care, including the most vulnerable and nurses themselves? This book addresses these and other ethical concerns that nurses are facing in their day-to-day clinical practice; experiences shared with patients, families, and colleagues. Although this book was written while the pandemic was still raging across the United States and globally, the events needed to be told as they were unfolding. This book helps us to learn from both the successes and failures that are affecting so many across the globe, including those on whom the public relies on to provide quality, compassionate, and expert care when they are sick: nurses.