Safeguarding Planetary and Human Health: Reflections on the Virchow Prize 2024

The Virchow Prize stands as a testament to the United Nations’ commitment to safeguarding the health of both people and the planet. By placing health at the forefront of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Virchow Prize exemplifies how advancing health is pivotal to achieving sustainable progress. Its overarching mission is to promote "health for all" by recognizing groundbreaking research, major innovations, and outstanding contributions that foster better health outcomes on a global scale.

The concept of "health for all" calls for reducing the pervasive health inequities that were intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and are now further challenged by war, conflict, geopolitical tensions, erosion of multilateralism, alongside the rise of authoritarianism and protectionism. It also highlights our shared responsibility to ensure the health and well-being of future generations.

This Research Topic spotlights the two 2024 Virchow Prize laureates, whose work collectively embodies the broad and inclusive approach to health that the Virchow Prize champions. Their lectures, delivered in Berlin on October 11 2024 at the Virchow Prize ceremony, underscore the urgent need for integrated solutions at the intersection of health, climate and the environment.

• Professor Lucy Gilson has made seminal contributions to Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR). Focusing on health systems in low- and middle-income countries, Gilson conceptualizes these systems as complex, adaptive, and human-centred, shaped as much by relationships and power dynamics as by infrastructure or financing.
• Professor Johan Rockström is renowned for his pioneering work on the planetary boundaries framework, identifying nine critical Earth system processes – ranging from climate regulation and biosphere integrity to biochemical cycles – that define a "safe operating space for humanity." His research emphasizes the global, ecological context essential for safeguarding human health, complementing Gilson’s perspective on people-centred health systems.

Together, the work of the Virchow Prize 2024 laureates exemplifies the importance of holistic, innovative approaches that address both planetary and human health, inspiring action towards a healthier and more equitable future for all. Please note that submissions to this Research Topic are limited to the Virchow Prize laureates and members of the Virchow Prize Foundation.

Keywords: Planetary Health, Health Systems Resilience, Complex Adaptive Systems, Sustainable Development Goals

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.