Opinion: Covid-19 could bring a new era of public health leadership. But will it?
The bubonic plague — also known as the Black Death — killed as many as 200 million people in the mid-14th century, about one-third of the population of Europe. It was the deadliest epidemic in history, yet it gave birth to public health initiatives that survive today, including quarantines and checkpoints to stop the spread of disease.
In the wake of World War II, a wave of international collaboration created the World Health Organization. The HIV/AIDS epidemic spawned a new era of urgency and activism for international health efforts.
