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Public Health Ethics

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16 views14 pages

Public Health Ethics

Uploaded by

sansan438765
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Public Health Ethics

Thomas Kyaw
MBBS (Ygn), MPH (Umea), Dip in SRHR (Lund)
October 2023
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Public Health Ethics

8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Today

15 16 17 18 19 20 21
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Table of Content – 3 Items

1 What is public health ethics?

2 12 principles of ethical practice

3 Health legislation

4 Various public health laws


What is public health and ethics?
• Public health promotes and protects the health
of all people and their communities. (rather
than individual) APHA

• This science-based, evidence-backed field strives


to give everyone a safe place to live, learn,
work and play.

• Ethics (synonym: morals, morality, values) is


defined as the systematic study of morality.

• Morality is defined as the beliefs and standards


of good and bad, right or wrong that people
actually do and should follow in a society.
What is public health and ethics? (cont)
Public health ethics may be defined as the principles and values that help
guide actions designed to promote health and prevent injury and disease
in the population.

A problem in public health ethics: it may sometimes be necessary to make trade-offs


between duties owed to individuals directly and duties owed to individuals as members of
the population.
What is public health and ethics? (cont)
E.g. – in deciding how to
ration vaccines in the event of
a pandemic
➢ Which individuals have
priority in their claim for
the vaccine?
➢ the most vulnerable
individual?
➢ the individual most likely to
survive?
➢ the individuals likely to reap
the greatest benefit?
Public health law Public health law and public health
policy are fundamental tools that
assist states in the task of protecting
people from threats to health,
preventing disease, and striving for
healthy populations.

Implementation of public health law is an essential element in ensuring population-level


health, especially through governmental entities. It provides public health professionals
with the legal basis for their practice and defines the scope of their practice.
TWELVE principles of ethical practice of public health - 1

1. Public health should address principally the fundamental causes of disease and
requirements for health, aiming to prevent adverse health outcomes.
2. Public health should achieve community health in a way that respects the rights of
individuals in the community.
3. Public health policies, programs, and priorities should be developed and evaluated
through processes that ensure an opportunity for input from community members.
4. Public health should advocate and work for the empowerment of disenfranchised
community members, aiming to ensure that the basic resources and conditions necessary
for health are accessible to all.
5. Public health should seek the information needed to implement effective policies and
programs that protect and promote health.
6. Public health institutions should provide communities with the information they have
that is needed for decisions on policies or programs and should obtain the community’s
consent for their implementation.
TWELVE principles of ethical practice of public health -2

7. Public health institutions should act in a timely manner on the information they have
within the resources and the mandate given to them by the public.
8. Public health programs and policies should incorporate a variety of approaches that
anticipate and respect diverse values, beliefs, and cultures in the community.
9. Public health programs and policies should be implemented in a manner that most
enhances the physical and social environment.
10. Public health institutions should protect the confidentiality of information that can
bring harm to an individual or community if made public. Exceptions must be justified on
the basis of the high likelihood of significant harm to the individual or others.
11. Public health institutions should ensure the professional competence of their
employees.
12. Public health institutions and their employees should engage in collaborations and
affiliations in ways that build the public’s trust and the institution’s effectiveness.
Health Legislation (enforcing public health laws)

➢ In its early history public health and its legal regulations covered communicable disease
prevention and environmental sanitation.
➢ It included some limited control of the disposal of human and other wastes, some
concerns for water purity and the hygiene of housing, a limited interest in food and
milk sanitation, some incipient school health controls, and very little else.
➢ To protect health, the government told industry, business and people generally what to
do and what not to do. Public health programmes seek to enhance public health not
only by prohibiting harmful activities or conditions but also by providing preventive
and rehabilitative services to advance the health of the people.
➢ Both nationally and internationally the field of public health and the execution of
public health powers and services depend on public health law.
Let’s look at Myanmar

Myanmar
Public health laws in Myanmar (1)
It is concerned with the protection of
people’s health by controlling the quality
and cleanliness of food, drugs,
environmental sanitation, epidemic
diseases and regulation of private clinics.
(1972)
Public health laws in Myanmar (2)

❖ Dental and Oral Medicine Council Law (1989) (Revised in 2011)


❖ Law relating to the Nurse and Midwife (1990) (Revised in 2002)
❖ Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association Law (1990) (Revised in 2010)
❖ Nation Drug Law (1992)
❖ Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law (1993)
❖ Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases Law (1995) (Revised in 2011)
❖ Traditional Drug Law (1996), Traditional Medicine Council Law (2000)
❖ Eye Donation Law (1996),
❖ Body Organ Donation Law (2004)
❖ National Food Law (1997)
❖ Myanmar Medical Council Law (2000)
❖ The Control of Smoking and Consumption of Tobacco Product Law (2006)
❖ The Law Relating to Private Health Care Services (2007)
Thank you for your attention!

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