Ethics is about how we live our lives. It includes thoughts about our values, our duties, and the consequences of our actions for others. Ethics is not just about how people do treat each other, but also about how they ought to act. We face ethical issues all the time in day-to-day life in relation … Read More “What is ethics?” »
Public health is an area of health care that tries to protect and promote the health of populations, groups or communities. It is different than clinical medicine where the goal is to maintain or improve the well-being of an individual. Public health is concerned with identifying, preventing or reducing harm for many people and with … Read More “What is public health?” »
Public health ethics is concerned with the ethical issues that arise when the aim is to protect and promote the health of populations (as opposed to individual patients). While these issues may be most commonly faced by public health professionals and policy makers, individual citizens are also faced with public health ethics challenges in their … Read More “What is public health ethics?” »
When anyone is thinking of making a decision about an issue related to public health they may find the following ethical principles helpful. However, this list only describes some of the important factors to think about. Not all of the principles will always be relevant, and no one principle will always take priority. The type … Read More “What are some important public health ethics principles” »
(a) Reasonable: Decisions must be based on reasons (i.e. evidence, principles, and values) that stakeholders (patients, health care providers, various health care and community organizations, and the public) can agree are relevant to meeting health needs in a public health crisis. (b) Transparency: The public should be consulted about the public health decisions made by policy makers … Read More “What other important ethical principles apply to decision making in public health?” »
Any disease will be present at a normal “background” level within a population. Epidemics occur when the number of cases of a particular infectious disease in that population or region is greater than what would usually be expected in a given time frame. Cases may be expressed, for example, in terms of the number of … Read More “What is an epidemic?” »
A pandemic occurs when an epidemic crosses international borders affecting a large number of people. The key to an influenza pandemic developing is when a new strain of the virus begins to circulate and most of the population has no immunity. This may result in severe disease. The World Health Organization has a more specific … Read More “What is a pandemic?” »
