Public health ethics and practice

Stephen Peckham is a Reader in Health Policy at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and was previously at Oxford Brookes University. He has been involved in health and social policy research and teaching since 1991 and previously worked in the voluntary and local government sectors. He has written widely on public health and primary care and is currently involved in research on public health in general practice and patient choice. Alison Hann is a Lecturer in Public Health and Health Policy at the University of Wales Swansea. She has published three books and many book chapters on public health, ethics and politics, and articles in journals including Critical Social Policy, Critical Public Health, International Journal of Health Planning and Management and Public Health. Alison is also Convenor of the Health Policy and Politics Network.

Introduction: Why public health ethics? ~ Stephen Peckham and Alison Hann; Part one: Public health ethics: contexts: Why ethics? What kind of ethics for public health? ~ Alan Cribb; Public health ethics: what it is and how to do it ~ Stephen Holland; Part two: Ethics and public health practice: What does it mean to 'know' a disease? The tragedy of XDR-TB ~ Ross Upshur; The evaluation of public health initiatives on smoking and lung cancer: an ethical critique ~ Peter Allmark, Angela Tod and Jo Abbott; Relevance of primary care bioethics committees In public health ethical practice in the community: an experience in an area of extreme poverty in Santiago, Chile ~ Marla Solari and Tatiana Escobar-Koch; Unlinked anonymous blood testing for public health purposes: an ethical dilemma? ~ Jessica Datta and Anthony Kessell; Constructing the obesity epidemic: loose science, money and public health ~ Alison Hann and Stephen Peckham; Politics, ethics and evidence: immunisation and public health policy ~ Alison Hann and Stephen Peckham; Avoiding mixed messages: HPV vaccines and the 'cure' for cervical cancer ~ Alison Hann and Stephen Peckham; A call for clearer vaccine exemption typology to improve population health ~ Erica Sutton and Ross Upshur; Part three: Public health ethics: developing a basis for practice: Theory and practice in public health ethics: a complex relationship ~ Angus Dawson; Conclusion: taking forward the debate ~ Stephen Peckham and Alison Hann.