ABSTRACT
The world is battling the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, pandemics such as COVID-19 are not entirely new phenomena in human history. Humans have always been fighting against infectious diseases since the Neolithic revolution, 12,000 years ago. Over the past few decades, however, new infectious diseases have been caused by sudden environmental changes. To protect against increasing threats from infectious diseases, human society has established public health systems against infectious diseases and has promoted various countermeasures against infectious diseases. In this chapter, past public health efforts in the context of fighting against infectious diseases are described, and the risk factors, such as social and environmental factors, of the burden of the disease are also reviewed. Then, the necessity to make a paradigm shift to a new scientific field, “Planetary Health,” is proposed to achieve a sustainable society after (or with) COVID-19.