PRINCIPLES OF THE ETHICAL PRACTICE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Principle #1- Public health should address principally the fundamental causes of disease and requirements for health, aiming to prevent adverse health outcomes.
REPORT
1. Public Health should address principally the fundamental causes of disease and requirements for health, aiming to prevent adverse health outcomes.
This Principle addresses not only the prevention of disease and promotion of health through addressing the requirements necessary to attain or maintain health but it addresses health on the most basic level.
Yet the principle acknowledges that public health will also concern itself with some immediate causes and some curative roles. For example, the treatment of curable infections is important to the prevention of transmission of infection to others. The term "public health" is used here and elsewhere in the Code to represent the entire field of public health, including but not limited to government institutions and schools of public health.
This first statement in the twelve principles of the ethical practice of public health:
Recognizes the ethical value the public health community gives to prevention.
Considers the full spectrum of the determinants of health.
Identifies the range of options for interventions that correspond to the full spectrum of determinants of health
Ethical principles of the practice of public health
1. Humans have a right to the resources necessary for health
2. Humans are inherently social and interdependent- meaning humans look to each other for support and companionship in the relationships they lead. E.g family, friendships and communities. By doing this they rely upon each other for safety and survival, and this is possible in more positive relationships.
3. The effectiveness of institutions depends heavily on the public’s trust- truth telling, transparency, accountability, reliability and
References: Health Impact Assessment (HIA). (n.d.).WHO. Retrieved June 30, 2013, from http://www.who.int/hia/evidence/doh/en/index.html Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health (2002) | CSEP : Codes Repository. (n.d.). Welcome | ethics.iit.edu. Retrieved June 30, 2013, from http://ethics.iit.edu/ecodes/node/4734