Ethical & Political Issues in Public Health Here is a quotation from your readin

Question

Ethical & Political Issues in Public Health

Here is a quotation from your reading Public Health Code of Ethics (Public Health Leadership Society, 2002):

Until recently, the ethical nature of public health has been implicitly assumed rather than explicitly stated. Increasingly, however, society is demanding explicit attention to ethics. This demand arises from: technological advances that create new possibilities, and with them, new ethical dilemmas; new challenges to health such as the advent of human immunodeficiency virus; abuses of power, such as the Tuskegee study of syphilis; and an increasingly pluralistic society in which we can no longer simply adopt the values from a single culture or religion, but we must work out our common values in the midst of diversity.

(1) What does it mean to "work out our common values in the midst of diversity" across cultures and religions? (2)How can we go about this?

(3) What are the public health implications of different cultural and religious values and ethics?

Explanation / Answer

Humans are inherently social and interdependent. Humans look to each other for companionship in friendships, families, and community; and rely upon one another for safety and survival. Positive relationships among individuals and positive collaborations among institutions are signs of a healthy community. The rightful concern for the physical individuality of humans and one's right to make decisions for oneself must be balanced against the fact that each person's actions affect other people.

Despite the variety of religions and cultures around the world, all share common beliefs about the need to care for other people and the natural environment. Such beliefs are essential to a sustainable future.

The world’s three major conservation groups – the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) – have identified a range of cross-cultural values that could underlie an ‘ethic for sustainable living’.

These values provide principles that can guide human relationships with each other (social equity, peace and democracy) and with nature.

Religious beliefs have a strong influence on the culture of a community. Indeed, for many people around the world, religious beliefs are central to their culture and provide the moral codes by which they live. Even where people in the contemporary world believe that the traditional beliefs of their parents and societies are not so relevant to their everyday lives, underlying religious beliefs about human worth and how to relate to other people are still important parts of their lives.

Achieving sustainability will need to be motivated by a shift in values Without change of this kind, even the most enlightened legislation, the cleanest technology, the most sophisticated research will not succeed in steering society towards the long-term goal of sustainability. Education in the broadest sense will by necessity play a pivotal role in bringing about the deep change required .

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