Department Seminar Sustainable Health: Roberto De Vogli on talks about the ecological crisis and pandemics: the case for healthy “de-growth”

In this presentation, Robert De Vogli delves into the concept of healthy de-growth and its implications for tackling the ecological crisis and pandemic threats. The global ecological crisis and the emergence of new pandemics share similar risk factors including deforestation, intensification of animal farming, urbanization, population explosion and climate change. These risk factors, however, are largely influenced by a global socioeconomic system that prioritise economic growth, profit, and (“self-regulating”) markets over any other societal goal. In particular, the ecological rationale for transitioning toward healthy de-growth seems strong. Examining historical data on economic growth and climate pollutants reveals that significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions occurred primarily during economic downturns such as the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Significant emissions reductions, however, do not necessarily translate into adverse health and well-being effects. Despite epidemiological evidence indicating that periods of reduced GDP per capita can lead to adverse health outcomes, economic recessions can paradoxically coincide with increased life expectancy and reduced mortality.
These favourable trends are linked to social policies promoting income equality and robust social safety nets, which can break the connection between economic downturns and negative health outcomes.
The final part of the presentation addresses the potential for an alternative economic approach in which GDP growth ceases to be the central national policy objective.

About Robert De Vogli
Roberto De Vogli is an Associate Professor in Global Health and Psychology of Power at the University of Padova. He is also Contract Professor in Social Epidemiology at the School of Medicine, University of Bologna. Previously, he worked as an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Michigan and Department of Public Health, University of California Davis. He also worked as Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. His education includes a PhD and a Master in (Global) Public Health (minor in Public Policy) at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA.)

Prof. De Vogli worked internationally and consulted for UN agencies such as the World Health Organization and the World Bank as well as international non-governmental organizations in Guatemala, Mexico, Russia, Tanzania and Vietnam. He is a former member of the Globalization and Health Knowledge Network of the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health, and UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Peer Review College. He is a member of the Alliance for Sustainability and Prosperity (ASAP) addressing the need to reorient economies and societies around the aim of promoting sustainable wellbeing.

Prof. De Vogli is the author of numerous publications in the fields of socioeconomic determinants of health, globalization, and health and ecological economics. He has published in major peer-reviewed journals including Nature, The Lancet, British Medical Journal and Annals of Internal Medicine. Some of his manuscripts have widely been covered by mainstream media outlets including the BBC, The Guardian, The Independent, NBC and The Los Angeles Times. He is the author of a book entitled “Progress or Collapse: The Crises of Market Greed” (Routledge), a critical analysis of the multiple effects of global neoliberal policies on ecological sustainability, wellbeing, health, democracy and social equity. His new book entitled “Everything will be fine: how to (mis)manage a pandemic and (not) to avoid the next one” will be published in 2024 by Routledge.