As the Covid pandemic declined in 2022, the European offices of the World Health Organization and the Association of Schools of Public Health called for the professionalization of the public health workforce, that it may respond quickly, effectively, and equitably to future public health threats. Their Roadmap states, “It is [the] collective professional approach to complex societal problems that raises the public health profile from that of an occupation concerned largely with reductive tasks … to a profession… underpinned by a consensual understanding of and commitment to values that focus on health equity.”
Mfutso-Bengo Joseph, Professor of Bioethics, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Blantyre, Malawi, Director of the Centre of Bioethics in Southern and Eastern Africa
Peter Schroder-Back, Professor of Ethics, University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Jim Thomas, Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and Ethics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA
Our purpose
Ethics are sets of moral values and principles held by a people or institution. They are expressed in a code of ethics and enforced as much as possible in laws. The purpose of the Public Health Ethics and Law Network is to support country Ministries of Health and public health institutions as they clarify their their values in codes of ethics and incorporate the principles into their training of students and staff.
Our leadership
Farhang Tahzib, convener of the public health ethics and law network
Kasia Czebanowska, Professor in Public Health Leadership and Workforce Development, Maastricht University, Netherlands