Contemporary societies are being confronted with an unprecedented accumulation of political, social and public health challenges. Historical issues that have never been resolved are now being commingled with conjunctural issues, exacerbating inequalities, prejudices, suffering and preventable deaths. In the midst of a global pandemic, in which the understanding of the health-disease process is multidimensional, several approaches are needed to understand the natural progression of the disease, as well as its repercussion on social, economic, political and cultural aspects. Despite negationist tendencies, the pandemic revealed the central role of science in finding a solution to this crisis¹1 Caponi S. Covid-19 no Brasil: entre o negacionismo e a razão neoliberal. Estudos Avançados 2020; 34(99):209-224.. It also highlighted the importance of national and international public health organizations in tackling the pandemic. It is necessary for civil society to understand the importance of investments in research, technology, and innovation for the development of countries.

In spite of this unfavorable scenario, or perhaps thanks to it, we are witnessing important changes in the modus operandi in the sciences. Research has become more open to interdisciplinarity, conceiving new forms of relationship with civil society and querying the ethical implications of the hermetic knowledge that academia traditionally produces. With the pandemic crisis, scientific methods have adapted to the demands of the players involved; the attitude of the researchers has become more committed, and collaborations have proved to be increasingly necessary in different fields, united by the premise that all the sciences are social. The permanent scientific renewal process encompasses reflection on the construction of the facts. For this reason, scientific activity is, simultaneously, a consensus between epistemological surveillance and social criticism. The ongoing reaffirmation is evident of prejudices and blinkered attitudes that support neoconservative attitudes of contempt for scientific knowledge²2 Thorp HH. Do us a favor. Science 2020; 367:1169.. The deconstruction of this anti-science agenda needs to be addressed urgently.

The public call for submission of papers that gave rise to this issue received manuscripts that contributed to previously elaborated themes. These themes include aspects related to racism and its impacts on health, with articles that analyze racial discrimination among women in induced abortion processes and a study with elderly ‘quilombola’ residents, as well as identity topics, with a discussion on masculinities and mental suffering. Some themes associated with the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda appear in studies on food systems and maternal mortality. Primary Health Care and its core principles are included in the scope of this issue, with articles that address the topic as a platform for the enhancement and evaluation of primary care. Global governance is a topical theme, with studies that conduct an analysis of national policies on adolescent health, cancer control and healthy food, as well as comparative health systems.

Demography plays an important role in public health: this issue presents studies that characterize mortality in the 30 years of the SUS, which associate the pattern of demographic transition with social indicators and analyze the cycles of natural disasters and the impact among the elderly. In this respect, in addition to infectious diseases or chronic conditions, violence is the factor that constitutes the triple spectrum of diseases. This is a marked characteristic of Latin America, and it is examined in articles on police reports about youths from the outskirts and public insecurity. Lastly, there are articles that address the COVID-19 pandemic, with analyses ranging from the assessment of social classes to the spatial and temporal dissemination of Sars-CoV-2, as well as a reflection on negationism and the institutional capacity to respond to the pandemic.

The Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health is a pioneering institution in public health teaching and research in Brazil. Seeking to maintain its social commitment and the defense of science, the Postgraduate Program in Public Health invites you to appreciate the contents of this issue.

Good reading!

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