Health and Justice in a Pandemic
By Sridhar Venkatapuram | 26 February 2021
Sridhar Venkatapuram brings health-related natural and social sciences together with philosophy in order to understand and address health inequalities and injustices. Recently, he has been thinking about the systems which allowed the SARS-CoV-2 virus to spread at an unprecedented rate. This line of enquiry challenges us to think beyond the virus as the only cause of the pandemic, and encourages us to reexamine the socioeconomic systems which play a critical role in both spreading and controlling disease.
About the Expert
Sridhar Venkatapuram is an academic researcher, educator, and practitioner in global health and philosophy. His work brings health-related natural and social sciences together with philosophy in order to understand and address health inequalities and injustice. He recently spent one year at the Global Health Ethics Unit of the World Health Organization in Geneva.
Dr Venkatapuram’s most well known work relates to applying the Capabilities Approach to health and health inequalities, particularly the argument for the moral and human right to the capability to be healthy. Health capability, seen as a basic freedom, like other freedoms are socially created and distributed.
Here are the top three questions on Sridhar Venkatapuram’s mind at this moment:
What is the cause of this pandemic?
Who is responsible for doing something about this pandemic?
What is the aim of controlling the pandemic?
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