Evidence for health humanities: A study from the COVID-19 pandemic

The global COVID-19 pandemic has exerted unprecedented pressure on public health governance systems, underscoring the need for robust evaluations of public health policy responses. This study examines domestic and international research on public health policy during the COVID-19 crisis, drawing on the Web of Science Core Collection and other major English-language databases, as well as CNKI and related Chinese databases. Using VOSviewer for bibliometric visualisation, and informed by health humanities and crisis life-cycle theory, we conduct a systematic analysis of the intellectual foundations, research hotspots, and evolutionary trajectories of this field. The findings reveal a shared developmental logic in the literature, moving from “upgrading governance systems” to “innovating policy instruments” and “strengthening grassroots capacity” alongside divergent explorations in domains such as digital governance and health equity. The study further identifies convergences and tensions in Chinese and international value orientations regarding pandemic control, illuminates how health humanities perspectives are articulated in responses to public health emergencies, and argues that public health serves as a key vehicle for realizing health humanities ideals. We conclude that future policy design must go beyond a narrow focus on technology and efficiency, embedding the three core dimensions of health humanities—population-wide, whole-of-society, and globally oriented—across all stages of emergency management. Such an approach can support the development of more inclusive and resilient public health systems.