⛑️Public Health Ethics Unit 8 – Global Health Ethics & Policy

Key Concepts in Global Health Ethics

• Autonomy involves respecting individuals' right to make informed decisions about their health and well-being
  • Includes the right to refuse treatment or participate in research
  • Requires providing adequate information and ensuring comprehension
• Beneficence obligates healthcare providers and policymakers to act in the best interest of individuals and populations
  • Involves promoting health, preventing harm, and maximizing benefits
  • Requires considering both short-term and long-term consequences
• Non-maleficence is the principle of "do no harm" in healthcare and public health interventions
  • Involves minimizing risks and avoiding unintended negative consequences
  • Requires careful assessment of potential harms and benefits
• Justice encompasses fair distribution of health resources and opportunities
  • Includes ensuring equitable access to healthcare and addressing social determinants of health
  • Involves considering the needs of vulnerable and marginalized populations
• Cultural competence is the ability to provide healthcare and implement policies in a manner that respects diverse beliefs, values, and practices
  • Requires understanding and adapting to cultural differences
  • Involves engaging communities and incorporating local knowledge and perspectives
• Global health diplomacy refers to the use of diplomacy to advance global health goals and foster international cooperation
  • Involves negotiating agreements, mobilizing resources, and building partnerships
  • Requires balancing national interests with global health priorities
• Solidarity is the recognition of our shared humanity and the commitment to collective action to address global health challenges
  • Involves supporting and empowering communities to improve their health
  • Requires addressing the root causes of health inequities and promoting social justice

Historical Context of Global Health Policy

• Colonialism and imperialism have shaped global health inequities and power dynamics
  • Involved the exploitation of resources and labor in colonized regions
  • Led to the introduction of infectious diseases and disruption of traditional health systems
• The World Health Organization (WHO) was established in 1948 as the leading international health agency
  • Aims to promote health, prevent disease, and respond to health emergencies
  • Provides technical assistance, sets global health standards, and coordinates international health efforts
• The Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978 affirmed health as a fundamental human right and emphasized the importance of primary healthcare
  • Called for community participation, intersectoral collaboration, and equitable access to healthcare
  • Influenced the development of community-based health programs and health system strengthening efforts
• The HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 1980s and 1990s highlighted global health inequities and the need for international cooperation
  • Disproportionately affected marginalized populations and low- and middle-income countries
  • Led to the establishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and other global health initiatives
• The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted in 2000 to address global poverty and health challenges
  • Included targets for reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
  • Achieved significant progress but fell short of some goals and faced criticism for top-down approach and lack of accountability
• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in 2015 as a more comprehensive and inclusive framework for global development
  • Includes 17 goals and 169 targets across social, economic, and environmental dimensions
  • Emphasizes the interconnectedness of health with other sectors and the need for multi-stakeholder partnerships

Ethical Frameworks in Public Health

• Utilitarianism seeks to maximize overall welfare and minimize suffering for the greatest number of people
  • Involves weighing the costs and benefits of public health interventions
  • May justify infringing on individual rights for the greater good
• Deontology emphasizes the inherent rightness or wrongness of actions based on moral rules or duties
  • Holds that certain actions (lying, breaking promises) are inherently wrong regardless of consequences
  • Prioritizes individual rights and autonomy over collective welfare
• Virtue ethics focuses on cultivating moral character and virtues (compassion, integrity) in individuals and institutions
  • Emphasizes the importance of moral reasoning and practical wisdom in decision-making
  • Requires considering the context and relationships involved in public health practice
• Principlism is a framework that balances four key ethical principles: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice
  • Provides a structured approach for analyzing and resolving ethical dilemmas
  • Requires weighing and balancing competing principles based on the specific context
• Casuistry is a case-based approach that draws on analogies and precedents to guide ethical decision-making
  • Involves comparing the current situation to similar cases and applying relevant moral principles
  • Allows for flexibility and adaptation to unique circumstances
• Feminist ethics emphasizes the importance of relationships, care, and empowerment in moral reasoning
  • Challenges traditional notions of impartiality and universality in ethics
  • Highlights the gendered dimensions of health and the need for inclusive and participatory approaches
• Capability approach focuses on expanding individuals' freedoms and opportunities to live a life they have reason to value
  • Considers health as a key capability that enables individuals to pursue their goals and well-being
  • Requires addressing social, economic, and political factors that limit health capabilities

Global Health Inequities and Social Justice

• Health disparities refer to differences in health outcomes and access to healthcare across populations
  • Can be based on factors such as income, race, ethnicity, gender, and geographic location
  • Reflect systemic inequities and social determinants of health
• Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age that shape health outcomes
  • Include factors such as education, employment, housing, and social support networks
  • Require addressing upstream factors and promoting health equity
• Health equity is the absence of unfair and avoidable differences in health across populations
  • Involves ensuring that everyone has a fair opportunity to attain their full health potential
  • Requires addressing social, economic, and political inequities that drive health disparities
• Social justice is the fair and equitable distribution of resources, opportunities, and burdens in society
  • Involves challenging power imbalances and promoting the rights and well-being of marginalized populations
  • Requires addressing the root causes of health inequities and promoting systemic change
• Structural violence refers to the ways in which social, economic, and political structures harm individuals and communities
  • Includes policies and practices that perpetuate poverty, discrimination, and marginalization
  • Requires addressing the underlying power dynamics and promoting social change
• Global health governance involves the institutions, processes, and actors that shape global health policies and practices
  • Includes international organizations, governments, civil society, and the private sector
  • Requires inclusive and accountable decision-making processes that prioritize health equity and social justice
• Decolonizing global health involves challenging the legacies of colonialism and imperialism in global health research and practice
  • Requires shifting power and resources to local communities and institutions
  • Involves valuing indigenous knowledge and promoting community-led approaches to health

International Health Organizations and Governance

• The World Health Organization (WHO) is the leading international health agency within the United Nations system
  • Sets global health standards, provides technical assistance, and coordinates international health efforts
  • Governed by the World Health Assembly, which includes representatives from all member states
• The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) focuses on promoting the rights and well-being of children worldwide
  • Provides healthcare, nutrition, education, and protection services to children in need
  • Works with governments and partners to strengthen health systems and promote child-friendly policies
• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a partnership organization that mobilizes and invests resources to support countries in combating these diseases
  • Operates as a financing mechanism that channels funds to local programs and initiatives
  • Governed by a board that includes representatives from donor and implementing countries, civil society, and affected communities
• The GAVI Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public-private partnership that aims to increase access to vaccines in low-income countries
  • Provides funding and support for vaccine procurement, delivery, and health system strengthening
  • Governed by a board that includes representatives from donor and implementing countries, civil society, and the private sector
• The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans, grants, and technical assistance to support development efforts in low- and middle-income countries
  • Includes health as a key priority area and supports health system strengthening and disease control efforts
  • Governed by a board of governors that includes representatives from member countries
• Civil society organizations (CSOs) play a critical role in global health governance and advocacy
  • Include non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, and advocacy groups
  • Provide services, mobilize communities, and hold governments and international organizations accountable
• Global health treaties and agreements are legal instruments that establish international norms and standards for health
  • Include the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the International Health Regulations
  • Require ratification and implementation by member states to be effective

Ethical Challenges in Global Health Interventions

• Resource allocation involves deciding how to distribute limited health resources across populations and interventions
  • Requires considering factors such as cost-effectiveness, equity, and urgency of need
  • May involve difficult trade-offs between individual and population-level benefits
• Informed consent is the process of obtaining voluntary agreement from individuals to participate in research or receive medical treatment
  • Requires providing adequate information, ensuring comprehension, and respecting individual autonomy
  • Can be challenging in contexts with low literacy, language barriers, or power imbalances
• Cultural relativism is the view that moral beliefs and practices are relative to cultural context and should be respected
  • Challenges the universality of ethical principles and the imposition of Western values
  • Requires balancing respect for cultural diversity with the promotion of fundamental human rights
• Unintended consequences are the negative or harmful effects that may result from well-intentioned global health interventions
  • Can include disrupting local health systems, exacerbating inequities, or creating dependency on external aid
  • Require careful planning, monitoring, and adaptation to mitigate potential harms
• Sustainability refers to the ability of global health interventions to maintain their benefits over time
  • Involves building local capacity, ownership, and resources to support long-term impact
  • Requires addressing the underlying social, economic, and political determinants of health
• Accountability involves ensuring that global health actors are responsible for their actions and responsive to the needs and priorities of affected communities
  • Requires transparent and participatory decision-making processes, monitoring and evaluation, and mechanisms for redress
  • Can be challenging in contexts with weak governance, corruption, or limited civil society engagement
• Dual loyalty refers to the conflicting obligations that healthcare providers may face between their patients and their employers, funders, or governments
  • Can arise in situations where public health goals or resource constraints conflict with individual patient needs
  • Requires clear ethical guidelines and support for healthcare providers to navigate these tensions

Policy Development and Implementation

• Evidence-based policymaking involves using the best available scientific evidence to inform policy decisions
  • Requires synthesizing and translating research findings into actionable recommendations
  • Can be challenging in contexts with limited data, political constraints, or competing priorities
• Stakeholder engagement involves actively involving affected communities, civil society, and other relevant actors in the policy development process
  • Requires creating inclusive and participatory mechanisms for input and feedback
  • Can help ensure that policies are responsive to local needs and priorities
• Health impact assessment is a tool for evaluating the potential health effects of policies, programs, and projects
  • Involves systematically assessing the direct and indirect health impacts across populations and sectors
  • Can help identify and mitigate potential negative health consequences of non-health policies
• Policy coherence refers to the alignment and coordination of policies across sectors and levels of government to promote health and well-being
  • Requires breaking down silos and promoting intersectoral collaboration
  • Can help address the social determinants of health and promote health in all policies
• Implementation science is the study of methods and strategies to promote the uptake and effective implementation of evidence-based interventions
  • Involves identifying and addressing barriers to implementation, such as resource constraints, cultural factors, and health system weaknesses
  • Can help bridge the gap between research and practice and improve the impact of global health interventions
• Monitoring and evaluation are essential for assessing the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of global health policies and programs
  • Involves collecting and analyzing data on inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impacts
  • Can help identify areas for improvement, inform resource allocation decisions, and promote accountability
• Policy advocacy involves using evidence, persuasion, and mobilization to influence decision-makers and promote policy change
  • Requires building coalitions, framing issues, and creating political will for action
  • Can help advance health equity and social justice goals by challenging power imbalances and promoting policy reforms

Future Directions and Emerging Ethical Issues

• Planetary health is an emerging field that recognizes the interdependence of human health and the health of the planet
  • Requires addressing the environmental and climate-related drivers of health, such as air pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity loss
  • Involves promoting sustainable and equitable development that benefits both people and the planet
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and big data are transforming global health research and practice
  • Can help improve disease surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment through machine learning and predictive analytics
  • Raise ethical concerns around privacy, bias, and accountability in the use of health data
• Gene editing technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas9, have the potential to prevent and treat genetic diseases
  • Raise ethical questions around the safety, accessibility, and societal implications of genetic interventions
  • Require robust governance frameworks and public engagement to ensure responsible development and use
• Pandemic preparedness and response have taken on new urgency in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Require strengthening global health security, investing in disease surveillance and response capacities, and ensuring equitable access to vaccines and treatments
  • Raise ethical challenges around resource allocation, individual liberties, and global solidarity in the face of a shared threat
• Migration and displacement are increasingly recognized as global health challenges
  • Can exacerbate health vulnerabilities and inequities, particularly for refugees, asylum seekers, and migrant workers
  • Require addressing the social, economic, and political drivers of migration and ensuring access to healthcare and social services for displaced populations
• Mental health is a growing priority in global health, with increasing recognition of the burden of mental disorders and the need for integrated care
  • Requires addressing the social and structural determinants of mental health, such as poverty, discrimination, and violence
  • Involves promoting mental health literacy, reducing stigma, and increasing access to quality mental health services
• Decolonizing global health research and practice involves challenging the power imbalances and inequities that have shaped the field
  • Requires shifting decision-making power and resources to local communities and institutions
  • Involves valuing diverse forms of knowledge, promoting community-led approaches, and addressing the legacies of colonialism and racism in global health