scholarly journals Ethical Issues In Public Health Research

1970 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-21
Author(s):  
Abu Sadat Mohammad Nurunnabi ◽  
Mahmood Uz Jahan ◽  
Shaorin Tanira
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Ethical Reasoning ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Scientific Integrity ◽  
Health Ethics ◽  
Health Goals

Public health is the societal approach to protecting and promoting health. Public health ethics can be defined as the identification, analysis, and resolution of ethical problems arising in public health practice and research. The emerging interest in ethical issues in public health research and practice reflects both the important societal role of public health and the growing public interest in the scientific integrity of health information and the equitable distribution of health care resources. This article provides an overview of ethical issues in public health research for young researchers and readers who do not necessarily have an in-depth knowledge of public health ethics. A framework of ethics analysis geared specifically for public health is needed to provide practical guidance for public health professionals and researchers in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Medical Research Council is playing a role in setting a standard in the field of biomedical research including public health concerning its strategy and ethical issues and by helping different health institutes to build up a research environment. Though public policy is based on many factors in addition to public health goals and ethical reasoning, it should not lead to the politically preferable option for a given time. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bioethics.v1i3.9630 Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2010; 1(3): 15-21

Ethical principles and ethical issues in public health

2021 ◽  
pp. 261-272
Author(s):  
Nancy Kass ◽  
Amy Paul ◽  
Andrew Siegel
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Health Practice ◽  
Health Ethics ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Social Justice Theory

Public health ethics considers moral dimensions of public health practice and research. While medical ethics dates back hundreds of years, and bioethics writings emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, ‘public health ethics’, articulated as such, did not appear significantly in the literature for several more decades. There has been great interest recently in defining public health ethics, examining how it resembles or differs from medical ethics or bioethics, outlining frameworks and codes, and providing conceptual and practical guidance on how ethics can inform public health practice and research. This chapter describes the emergence of public health ethics; work in bioethics with relevance for public health; the relevance of social justice theory in addressing public health problems; and discusses literature on ethics and public health research, including whether public health research ethics might differ from ethical guidance for other human research. The chapter concludes with an overview of ethics issues related to genetic research and emerging technologies.

scholarly journals Βιοηθική και δημόσια υγεία: από τη δεκαετία 1970 στην πανδημία COVID-19

Bioethica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Aikaterini A Aspradaki
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Public Health Genetics ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Ethics

The strong relationship between bioethics and public health has been put forward since the early 1970s. The HIV/AIDS epidemic, erupted in the 1980s, serves as a catalyst for the broadening of the bioethics frameworks by the inclusion of ethical issues faced in public health. From the beginning of the 21st century, public health ethics has been emerged as a discipline and has been established as a subfield of bioethics.Topics in public health ethics include, among others, the public health research, the ethics and infectious disease control, the ethics of health promotion and disease prevention, the ethical issues in environmental and occupational health, the public health and health system reform: allocation of resources, access, priority setting, the international collaboration for global public health, the vulnerability and marginalized populations, the public health genetics, the public health genomics. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to constitute an area of conceptual and practical overlapping of all the above-mentioned topics and gives huge boost to research interest for public health bioethics.This paper explains the relationship between bioethics and public health through two time periods and, in particular, the “early” 1970s- 1990s era and the2000s & 2010s that is the period of the emergence and establishment of public health ethics marked, at the end, by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ethics of Population-Based Research

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly A. Taylor ◽  
Summer Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Health Practice ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Definition Of

Multiple scholars and institutions have asked what distinguishes public health research from public health practice. Most often, they ask in order to have a clear definition of what one does in various public health settings to assess oversight and/or regulation of human subjects research. More importantly, however, whether something is considered public health research or public health practice has real ethical implications in terms of the general moral considerations at stake and the obligations of public health researchers/practitioners to the populations they serve or study.Numerous examples in recent history of research ethics, including the Kennedy Krieger Lead Abatement Study and EPA’s Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study (CHEERS), suggest that an exploration of the ethics of public health, or more generally population-based research, may be warranted. Although we acknowledge that there are important ethical issues to consider in the implementation of public health practice, we leave that discussion for other authors.

An Overview of Ethics and Environmental Health

2019 ◽  
pp. 697-703
Author(s):  
David B. Resnik
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Biomedical Ethics ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Toxic Substances ◽  
Health Ethics ◽  
Wide Range

This chapter provides an overview of the ethics of environmental health, and it introduces five chapters in the related section of The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics. A wide range of ethical issues arises in managing the relationship between human health and the environment, including regulation of toxic substances, air and water pollution, waste management, agriculture, the built environment, occupational health, energy production and use, environmental justice, population control, and climate change. The values at stake in environmental health ethics include those usually mentioned in ethical debates in biomedicine and public health, such as autonomy, social utility, and justice, as well as values that address environmental concerns, such as animal welfare, stewardship of biological resources, and sustainability. Environmental health ethics, therefore, stands at the crossroads of several disciplines, including public health ethics, environmental ethics, biomedical ethics, and business ethics.

scholarly journals 25.G. Round table: Public health codes of ethical professional conduct for effective practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Professional Conduct ◽  
Pilot Site ◽  
Regional Office ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Health Ethics

Abstract One of the major outputs of the WHO Regional Office for Europe “Coalition of Partners” initiative has been the development of the “Road map for professionalization of the public health workforce in Europe.” Public health ethics was considered as one of the key pillars for practice for the workforce. The report highlighted the case and urgent need for development of Public Health Codes of ethics and professional conduct (CoC) as an essential part of workforce development strategies. The development of CoCs is considered essential to pursue the mission and moral mandate of public health and to clarify the purpose of professional activities in public health. Scotland has been working as an initial pilot site in Europe to consider developing a CoC for its workforce as part of its public health reform program. The purpose of this roundtable workshop is to share and reflect on the learning from the process, experience and findings from development of the Scottish CoC as the first pilot site in Europe and implications for development of such codes in other public health systems. The workshop will also share the evidence, rationale and background to CoC with research and learning from around the world on the issue. The Roundtable will include brief presentations by an experienced expert panel of senior public health leaders, ethicists and academics who have been working on development of public health Codes of professional conduct. This will be followed by reflection, consultation and debate with participants around the case, nature and options for development of codes of practice and distinguishing features for public health practice. There are issues to whether there is need for country specific, regional or global codes of ethics taking account core public health values and implications for practice. One of the key issues identified is fundamental importance of ensuring such work is linked to a strategy and activities to build competency and capacity around public health ethics and law and to ensure resources, systems and robust education and training activities are put in place for a sustainable development of the issue. Key messages The Development of CoCs is important in order to support the workforce, pursue the mission and moral mandate of public health and clarify the purpose of professional activities. There is need to develop activities and strategy for building competency and capacity in public health ethics alongside development of Code of ethics and professional conduct.

scholarly journals In defence of a single body of clinical and public health, medical ethics

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (S2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Pierre Unger ◽  
Ingrid Morales ◽  
Pierre De Paepe ◽  
Michel Roland
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
List Type ◽  
Health Practice ◽  
Health Ethics ◽  
Medical Associations ◽  
Patient’S Autonomy ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Background Since some form of dual clinical/public health practice is desirable, this paper explains why their ethics should be combined to influence medical practice and explores a way to achieve that. Main text In our attempt to merge clinical and public health ethics, we empirically compared the individual and collective health consequences of two illustrative lists of medical and public health ethical tenets and discussed their reciprocal relevance to praxis. The studied codes share four principles, namely, 1. respect for individual/collective rights and the patient’s autonomy; 2. cultural respect and treatment that upholds the patient’s dignity; 3. honestly informed consent; and 4. confidentiality of information. However, they also shed light on the strengths and deficiencies of each other’s tenets. Designing a combined clinical and public health code requires fleshing out three similar principles, namely, beneficence, medical and public health engagement in favour of health equality, and community and individual participation; and adopting three stand-alone principles, namely, professional excellence, non-maleficence, and scientific excellence. Finally, we suggest that eco-biopsychosocial and patient-centred care delivery and dual clinical/public health practice should become a doctor’s moral obligation. We propose to call ethics based on non-maleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and justice – the values upon which, according to Pellegrino and Thomasma, the others are grounded and that physicians and ethicists use to resolve ethical dilemmas – “neo-Hippocratic”. The neo- prefix is justified by the adjunct of a distributive dimension (justice) to traditional Hippocratic ethics. Conclusion Ethical codes ought to be constantly updated. The above values do not escape the rule. We have formulated them to feed discussions in health services and medical associations. Not only are these values fragmentary and in progress, but they have no universal ambition: they are applicable to the dilemmas of modern Western medicine only, not Ayurvedic or Shamanic medicine, because each professional culture has its own philosophical rationale. Efforts to combine clinical and public health ethics whilst resolving medical dilemmas can reasonably be expected to call upon the physician’s professional identity because they are intellectual challenges to be associated with case management.

scholarly journals Scraping the Web for Public Health Gains: Ethical Considerations from a ‘Big Data’ Research Project on HIV and Incarceration

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Rennie ◽  
Mara Buchbinder ◽  
Eric Juengst ◽  
Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein ◽  
Colleen Blue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Health Planning ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Health Practice ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Hiv Surveillance ◽  
The Web

Abstract Web scraping involves using computer programs for automated extraction and organization of data from the Web for the purpose of further data analysis and use. It is frequently used by commercial companies, but also has become a valuable tool in epidemiological research and public health planning. In this paper, we explore ethical issues in a project that “scrapes” public websites of U.S. county jails as part of an effort to develop a comprehensive database (including individual-level jail incarcerations, court records and confidential HIV records) to enhance HIV surveillance and improve continuity of care for incarcerated populations. We argue that the well-known framework of Emanuel et al. (2000) provides only partial ethical guidance for the activities we describe, which lie at a complex intersection of public health research and public health practice. We suggest some ethical considerations from the ethics of public health practice to help fill gaps in this relatively unexplored area.

An Overview of the Ethics of Health Systems

2019 ◽  
pp. 107-114
Author(s):  
Maria W. Merritt ◽  
Adnan A. Hyder
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Health Systems Research ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
System Level ◽  
Health Ethics ◽  
Systems Research

This chapter relates public health ethics to selected questions regarding health systems ethics and provides overviews of chapters in the section of The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics dedicated to health systems. National and subnational health systems aim chiefly to improve population health. Public health is a collective good whose promotion takes government action, raising ethical issues in stewardship, governance, and accountability. Moral justifications for public health activities, including overall benefit, collective efficiency, distributive fairness, and harm prevention, are considered by way of examining global human resources for health, with an eye to efficiency, equity, rights, and other ethical issues. Worldwide interest in health systems strengthening has boosted investment in health systems research, taking traditional research ethics to the population level in the field of health systems research ethics. The idea of a learning health care system (LHCS) represents a dynamic interface where health care delivery can be continuously improved through systemic data collection undertaken in conjunction with clinical care, posing new system-level ethical opportunities and ethical challenges.

scholarly journals 13.C. Workshop: Epistemic and ethical innovations in public health research

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Biomedical Data ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
Public Health Policies

Abstract About 90% of the biomedical data accessible to researchers was created in the last two years. These data have a very meaningful impact both in creating public policies on health, as well as public health research. This certainly implies complex technical problems on how to store, analyse and distribute data, but it also brings relevant epistemological issues. In this workshop we will present some of such problems and discuss how epistemic innovation is key in order to tackle ethical issues related to the use of big data in public health research. Databases implied in public health research are so huge that they rise relevant questions about how scientific method is applied, such as what counts as evidence of a hypothesis when data can not be directly apprehended by humans, how to distinguish correlation from causation, or in which cases the provider of a database can be considered co-author of a research paper. To consider such issues nowadays, current protocols do not hold, and we need innovation in methodological and epistemic procedures. At the same time, due to the fact that a relevant deal of such biomedical data is linked to individual people, and how medical data can be used to predict and transform human behavior, there are ethical questions difficult to solve as they imply new challenges. Some of them are related to communication issues, so patients and citizens understand these new ethical problems that didn't arise before the development of big data; others relate to the way in which public health researchers can and can't store, analyse and distribute information, and some others relate to the limits on which technologies are ethically, safe and which ones bring erosion of basic human rights. The four contributions in the workshop analyse these questions in some detail. During the workshop we will present a coherent understanding on what is epistemic innovation, some logical tools necessary for its development, and then we will discuss several cases on how epistemic innovation applies to different aspects of public health research, also commenting its relevance when tackling ethical problems that may arise. Key messages The workshop deepens the ethical and epistemological innovations involved in public health policies and research, specially related to big data. The workshop analyses novel aspects of public health ethics

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