Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: In contrast to its outpatient and inpatient healthcare, Germany’s public health service (Öffentlicher Gesundheitsdienst, ÖGD/PHS) faces financial and structural disadvantages. In this paper, we unravel the challenges associated with political polarization and their significant impact on public and individual health. Political polarization should be understood not merely as a communication challenge but as a governance determinant for public health. Using Germany’s public health service as an illustrative case, we examine how institutional dependence within political-administrative hierarchies can make the translation of scientific evidence into credible action more vulnerable under crisis conditions. Three mechanisms for scientific vulnerability are central: 1. the erosion of trust in institutions and expertise; 2. the rising political costs of acting in uncertain situations; and 3. reduced compliance when public health measures are interpreted through partisan lenses. Our investigations are based on a review of selected literature and institutional analysis focusing on the impact of political polarization on public health and subsequently discuss reform pathways that could strengthen scientific integrity, professional accountability, and crisis capacity, including statutory and professional safeguards for independence, tighter medical and academic integration of public health authorities, clearly defined leadership profiles, agency-based arrangements, and, in the longer term, self-governing models. At the same time, we emphasize trade-offs relation, legal oversight, financing, and federal coordination, as well as the limits of a non-causal, conceptually oriented argument.
Source: Frontiers in Public Health
Authors: Mesut Yavuz, Alexandra Roth, Nicolai Savaskan
Institution: University of Lübeck
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7222970893