Medicine and the Public: The 1962 Report of the Royal College of Physicians and the New Public Health

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the governments of the world to implement different regulative and protective measures. Although these measures required serious re-considerations of public health strategies, they were still grounded on pre-existing contexts of countries’ health systems, namely the “new public health” paradigm. Turkey’s neoliberal health reforms since 2003 coincide with the principles of this paradigm’s trends toward marketizing services and responsibilizing individuals; yet the Turkish context of the pandemic also stands out due to its mixed and unique form of governance. Utilizing the tweets of the Turkish Health Minister between March 13th and October 1st, 2020, we conducted a thematic qualitative analysis investigating the Turkish state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis revealed that state responsibility was framed around building new pandemic hospitals, informing the public, and building trust. Conversely, his tweets assigned Turkish individuals an active role in shaping pandemic outcomes through their “informed” and “empowered” agency. Finally, he coined “togetherness,” referring to the sum of individual actions, as an indispensable goal in assuring public compliance with precautions. The Minister’s tweets reflect the unique nature of pandemic governance in Turkey with a relatively imposing and swift response of centralized power but a primary focus on “responsibilized” individuals’ collective actions.

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Municipal public health officials and the Public Health Act

Skandinavisk tidsskrift for yrker og profesjoner i utvikling ◽

10.7577/sjvd.1796 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

Author(s):

Heidi Lyshol

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Workers ◽

Relevant Literature ◽

Vocational Teachers ◽

The Public ◽

New Public Health ◽

New Public ◽

Public Health Officials ◽

Public Health Workers ◽

Public Health Act

Introduction: The Norwegian Public Health Act of 2012 was intended to give the municipalities a bigger stake in the health of the population by emphasizing public health at a municipal level. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the Act on public health officials in the execution of their vocational roles.Research questions: How do public health officials in Norwegian municipalities balance the requirements of the new Public Health Act and what their local leaders, both politicians and bureaucrats, want? How do they use the Act in the performance of their vocational roles? Does this have any relevance for vocational teachers? Method :After a literature search, semi-formal interviews were conducted with 13 municipal public health officials who were also given practical tasks and short questionnaires. The interview transcripts were analysed using Thematic Analysis. This qualitative research technique is defined and described. Discussion and Results: The study shows that the public health workers see the Act as a useful tool and actively use it to leverage the public health field into greater importance. They feel that the Act is empowering, gives them greater pride in their work, and that it helps both them and their superiors to achieve greater understanding of public health workers’ roles in their municipalities. Using the informants’ own words, changes in the municipal public health workers’ roles and vocational self-definitions are discussed in the context of the new Act and selections from the relevant literature. Conclusion: The Public Health Act has changed the roles of municipal public health workers and helped them to further public health by giving them more responsibility and expanded their duty to safeguard health in all policies. The Act is seen as empowering, giving public health professionals pride in their work and greater role understanding, and should be heavily featured in the curriculum of future public health workers.

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The new public health imposed and its missing links - people, cultures, anthropology, health for all

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.185 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

S Špoljar Vržina

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

The Public ◽

New Public Health ◽

New Public ◽

Entry Points ◽

Long Term Follow Up ◽

Critical Medical Anthropology ◽

Health Agenda

Abstract Critical medical anthropology has been active throughout the decades (Baer, Susser, Singer 1986; Lock, Nichter, 2002; Lupton, 1995. 2000, 2015) in proving that public health is not only an addition to equations of equity in health care but rooted in cultures of people globally (Špoljar Vržina 2003, 2007, 2008; 2011, 2013, 2021; Špoljar Vržina, Rudan, 2009). Italian anthropologist codified the postmodern 'doing good only in states of emergencies' (Pandolfi, 2010). In times of Corona Covid 19 -2020 epidemiological freights we are urged to take this further into account, especially since witnessing racial stigmatizing on the basis of ethnicity and nationality. Paradoxically, Italy as one of the cradles of quarantines is facing the potential permanent closure of neighbouring borders rather than experiencing a historically practiced cooperation, as in the case with Croatia, over centuries (Blažina, Blažina 2015). If there should be a New Public Health (Baum 2016, 2019; Lupton 1997, 2000) it should be recalibrated by anthropological findings that re- focus towards the good of people, cultures and their cooperation. The work of this paper presents this urgent challenge. This anthropological research is a long-term follow up of Croatian medicine system dismantling (Špoljar Vržina, 2008 onwards) through a continuous analyses of micro (people), intermediary (governmental) and macro (international) changes (Bear et al. 1986), departures from functioning for the benefit of people and finding entry points for ethical corrective interventions. The analysis proved an existing switch of the public health paradigm from global health into states of neoliberal sickness, with clear possibilities of returning to 'health for all' if disengaging from the politics of culture/public health. Public health enhancements need to be based on the recalibration towards knowledges of populational and cultural realities. Key messages Reintroducing the ‘innovative’ wisdom of doing good for all regardless of emergencies is the core of a new public health agenda. The new public health agenda is based on recognizing cultures as pillars of communities and global societies that matter.

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Beyond Public Health Emergency Legal Preparedness: Rethinking Best Practices

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1111/jlme.12031 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 41 (S1) ◽

pp. 13-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jennifer A. Bernstein

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Best Practices ◽

Health System ◽

Public Health System ◽

The Public ◽

New Public Health ◽

New Public ◽

Public Health Challenges ◽

Core Elements ◽

Health Laws

It has now been 10 years since the framework for public health legal preparedness was put forth as a model to meet new public health challenges in the 21st century. Public health legal preparedness is defined as the “attainment by a public health system of specified legal of standards essential to the preparedness of the public health system.” The framework has continued to develop over time and four core elements have emerged to make up the basis for public health legal preparedness. The four core elements are: (1) laws and legal authorities; (2) competency in using laws effectively and wisely; (3) coordination of legally based interventions across jurisdictions and sectors; and (4) information on public health laws and best practices.

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Public Health Programme 2003-2008 information day

Weekly releases (1997–2007) ◽

10.2807/esw.07.10.02176-en ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 7 (10) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

European Commission ◽

Full Understanding ◽

Public Health Programme ◽

The Public ◽

Work Plan ◽

New Public Health ◽

New Public ◽

Health Programme

An information day will be held on 21 March in Luxembourg to encourage and help anyone interested in applying for funding under the new public health programme to gain a full understanding of the requirements and conditions. On 1 January 2003, the European Commission adopted the work plan 2003 for the implementation of the Public Health Programme (2003-2008). Priorities defined in the work plan for 2003 concentrate on those actions that will create solid foundations for the overall ambitions of the six year programme to run from 2003 to 2008.

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Health inequalities - Breaking down silos

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.485 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

N Lindqvist ◽

K Engström

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Policy ◽

Social Determinants ◽

Public Health Policy ◽

Determinants Of Health ◽

Health Work ◽

The Public ◽

National Responsibility ◽

New Public Health ◽

New Public

Abstract The Public Health Agency of Sweden has a national responsibility to ensure good public health. The agency's mission is to develop and support society's work to promote health, prevent illness and protect against various forms of health threats. The vision is to strengthen the development of society through good population health. The agency has a national responsibility to halt avoidable health gaps within a generation, through creation of favourable societal conditions designed to impact good and equal health for the population. Public health monitoring and reporting aims at providing a broader description of the state and trends of public health in Sweden through data linkages and data on self-reported health. In 2018, the Swedish Government decided on a new public health goal and 8 target areas. The 8 areas reflect on various social determinants to achieve equitable health in Sweden within one generation. These determinants of health are influenced by political decisions as well as individual choices. The Public Health Policy is therefore a cross-sectoral target structure for the overall public health work and points out the need to focus on bridging inequality gaps in health and the social determinants of health. It is important to reflect upon how the advancement in monitoring tools and the new Public Health Policy goal can contribute to halting inequities. How do we know if we are reaching the goal? The focus of the presentation is therefore to highlight Sweden's public health reporting today, the ongoing work to improve the reporting of health and its determinants, with regard to inequities in health. The presentation will also give examples of in-depth reports of different public health challenges, web-based indicator systems used for monitoring health trends in Sweden and public health reports. Examples of the Agency's coordination and support for regional and local public health work will also be discussed.

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