The COVID pandemic knocked back progress towards improving public health. Without addressing the underlying social and economic causes of ill health, it could completely stall.

The past few years have not been easy on the world’s health-care systems. When the United Nations set its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, the threat of a pandemic sweeping the world would not have registered with most people.

Nature 619, 221 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02251-y