**International Health Security: COVID-19 and Beyond…**

The current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has changed virtually every aspect of our existence for generations to come. It has transformed our healthcare systems and re-defined (and reinforced) our understanding of the exclamation, carpe diem. During these turbulent times, humanity came together to devise novel treatments, vaccines, and other far-reaching scientific and clinical advances. It is the editors' hope that the pandemic is now on its "last legs" and that a "new normal" will continue to be restored over the next several years.

This book reflects this out-of-pandemic transition while ensuring that our focus on overall "health security" remains laser sharp, primarily because numerous international health security threats remain. Among the biggest and most pronounced contemporary challenges is climate change. As these words are being written, forest fires rage across numerous geographic areas of the world, while a combination of unpredictable flooding and droughts (due in large part to climatedependent redistribution of water resources) threatens to make entire regions of the planet uninhabitable. Along with climate change, we are very likely to see an increase in natural disasters and various other health risks. Among these emerging health risks are malnutrition/food insecurity, the appearance of invasive species, and acceleration in the discovery of novel pathogens. Accordingly, these "continuation and readiness" themes are incorporated into this collection of chapters.

The reader's journey begins with several important chapters on COVID-19. The editors' focus was to specifically highlight areas not previously touched upon in this book series. Topics discussed in the first section of the book include the effects of COVID-19 on pregnancy and the perinatal period, the pandemic-related appearance of toxic stress, as well as lessons learned during the pandemic. The reader's attention is then shifted to the topics of climate change and its effects on human health and wellbeing, as well as the importance of system-wide adaptation in the context of the anticipated increase in natural disaster frequency and severity. An important discussion on occupational accidents then follows. In this manner, we hope to "transition" the focus of any future work away from the COVID-19 pandemic and toward the overarching issue of climate change and its impact on humans.

In conclusion, the editors of this third volume in the International Health Security series hope that the reader will discover a valuable resource that is both comprehensive and easily accessible. When we began this book series, we did not expect that it would evolve into a multi-tome collection. We certainly hope

that the continued success of the initial installments in the series, along with the addition of the current book, will provide justification for further work in this important area.

## **Stanislaw P. Stawicki**

Department of Research and Innovation, St. Luke's University Health Network, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA

## **Ricardo Izurieta**

College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

### **Michael S. Firstenberg**

Department of Research and Special Projects, William Novick Global Cardiac Alliance, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

### **Sagar C. Galwankar**

Department of Emergency Medicine, Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Florida State University College of Medicine, Emergency Medicine Residency Program, Sarasota, Florida, USA

Section 1 Introduction
