Balance the needs of the population with respect for individual rights.
What is Public Health ethics?
Narrative Ethics in Public Health: The Value of Stories, Springer
Public Health Ethics is a framework that helps guide decision-making where actions intended to promote the common good may conflict with individual freedoms. Unlike clinical ethics, which focuses on individuals, public health ethics consider population-level interventions and how to ensure they are just, equitable, and respectful.
Core functions of Public Health ethics
- Prioritizes the health of the population while safeguarding individual rights.
- Justifies actions like quarantine, vaccination, and health surveillance.
- Builds trust in public health institutions.
- Promotes social justice and equity.
- Balances trade-offs between risks, benefits, and rights.
Principles of Public Health ethics
Kent State Blog: Exploring Ethical Issues in Public Health Practice, 2024
Because this is a relatively new field of study, there are no agreed-upon principles. However, the following provides a nice collection that necessarily overlap with biomedical ethics:
Respect individuals’ right to make their own choices.
Act for the good of the public; preventing and removing harm.
Fair distribution of benefits, burdens, and resources.
Uphold rights such as privacy, freedom of movement, and free expression.
Ensure interventions are voluntary and transparent.
Safeguard personal information and maintain trust.
Ensure fair allocation of public health resources.
Achieve the best outcomes with available resources.
Restrict individual freedom only to prevent harm to others.
Act on behalf of vulnerable or marginalized populations.
The ethical responsibility to protect and promote the health, safety, and well-being of workers in all types of employment settings.
Achieve the greatest possible improvement in population health outcomes using the resources available.
- Public Health Ethics: Global Cases, Practice, and Context; Springer.
- Defining Public Health Ethics for Practitioners; Springer.
- Health Management, Ethics and Research; OpenLearning.
- Principles of Clinical Ethics and Their Application to Practice, NIH.
- Teaching seven principles for public health ethics: towards a curriculum for a short course on ethics in public health programmes, NIH; BMC Medical Ethics.
- Public Health Ethics, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Ethics Explainer: The Harm Principle.
- Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health, Public Health Leadership Society.
- A Closer Look at the Three Core Functions of Public Health, Fairfield University.
- Ethical Principles of Public Health, Hillsdale College.
Case studies for application
congenital syphilis and partner notification
Ethical tension
Privacy/confidentiality vs. Community protection
Questions to answer via Slack channel
(required)
- Should partners be notified without the patient’s consent?
- How do we protect the newborn while respecting the mother’s autonomy?
tuberculosis (TB) control
Ethical tension
Individual liberty vs. Mandatory treatment/quarantine
Questions to answer via Slack channel
(required)
- When is it justified to isolate or detain someone for non-compliance?
- What safeguards must be in place to ensure fairness?
summary
Public Health Ethics is not just about doing what’s good—it's about doing what’s right, fair, and just while being effective.
- Guides policy decisions in vaccination, outbreak response, screening programs, and more.
- Balances individual rights with population-level needs.
- Promotes trust, fairness, and community engagement.