Dedication of this issue of the Journal to the theme of “Rights and Ethics” complements this month’s Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Public Health Association, titled “Public Health and Human Rights,” and highlights the congruence of inclusion of both human rights norms and ethical standards in public health work. Historically, the promotion and protection of human rights as embodied in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights draws upon human rights principles, including those on the health and well-being of populations, to which many nations were already committed. Similarly, ethical conduct in health care can be traced in spirit to the time of Hippocrates and has its modern expression in the area of bioethics. Although there are key differences enabling each to be applied separately to public health efforts, human rights and health care ethics support and compliment each other when applied together in efforts to improve public health.
Details:
Authors: Sofia Gruskin, Bernard Dickens
Published By: American Journal of Public Health
Date: November 1, 2006
Publication Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1751819/