Integrating ethics, health policy and health systems in low- and middle-income countries: case studies from Malaysia and Pakistan
Scientific progress is a significant basis for change in public-health policy and practice, but the field also invests in value-laden concepts and responds daily to sociopolitical, cultural and evaluative concerns. The concepts that drive much of public-health practice are shaped by the collective a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The World Health Organization
2008-08-01
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| Series: | Bulletin of the World Health Organization |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862008000800013&lng=en&tlng=en |
| _version_ | 1797282113108574208 |
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| author | Adnan A Hyder Maria Merritt Joseph Ali Nhan T Tran Kulanthayan Subramaniam Tasleem Akhtar |
| author_facet | Adnan A Hyder Maria Merritt Joseph Ali Nhan T Tran Kulanthayan Subramaniam Tasleem Akhtar |
| author_sort | Adnan A Hyder |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Scientific progress is a significant basis for change in public-health policy and practice, but the field also invests in value-laden concepts and responds daily to sociopolitical, cultural and evaluative concerns. The concepts that drive much of public-health practice are shaped by the collective and individual mores that define social systems. This paper seeks to describe the ethics processes in play when public-health mechanisms are established in low- and middle-income countries, by focusing on two cases where ethics played a crucial role in producing positive institutional change in public-health policy. First, we introduce an overview of the relationship between ethics and public health; second, we provide a conceptual framework for the ethical analysis of health system events, noting how this approach might enhance the power of existing frameworks; and third, we demonstrate the interplay of these frameworks through the analysis of a programme to enhance road safety in Malaysia and an initiative to establish a national ethics committee in Pakistan. We conclude that, while ethics are gradually being integrated into public-health policy decisions in many developing health systems, ethical analysis is often implicit and undervalued. This paper highlights the need to analyse public-health decision-making from an ethical perspective. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T17:08:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-df27e8f542a34abca2ea8ded362bf870 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0042-9686 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T17:08:17Z |
| publishDate | 2008-08-01 |
| publisher | The World Health Organization |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Bulletin of the World Health Organization |
| spelling | doaj.art-df27e8f542a34abca2ea8ded362bf8702024-03-03T02:29:07ZengThe World Health OrganizationBulletin of the World Health Organization0042-96862008-08-01868606611S0042-96862008000800013Integrating ethics, health policy and health systems in low- and middle-income countries: case studies from Malaysia and PakistanAdnan A Hyder0Maria Merritt1Joseph Ali2Nhan T Tran3Kulanthayan Subramaniam4Tasleem Akhtar5Johns Hopkins UniversityJohns Hopkins UniversityJohns Hopkins UniversityJohns Hopkins UniversityUniversity Putra MalaysiaFatima Memorial SystemScientific progress is a significant basis for change in public-health policy and practice, but the field also invests in value-laden concepts and responds daily to sociopolitical, cultural and evaluative concerns. The concepts that drive much of public-health practice are shaped by the collective and individual mores that define social systems. This paper seeks to describe the ethics processes in play when public-health mechanisms are established in low- and middle-income countries, by focusing on two cases where ethics played a crucial role in producing positive institutional change in public-health policy. First, we introduce an overview of the relationship between ethics and public health; second, we provide a conceptual framework for the ethical analysis of health system events, noting how this approach might enhance the power of existing frameworks; and third, we demonstrate the interplay of these frameworks through the analysis of a programme to enhance road safety in Malaysia and an initiative to establish a national ethics committee in Pakistan. We conclude that, while ethics are gradually being integrated into public-health policy decisions in many developing health systems, ethical analysis is often implicit and undervalued. This paper highlights the need to analyse public-health decision-making from an ethical perspective.http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862008000800013&lng=en&tlng=en |
| spellingShingle | Adnan A Hyder Maria Merritt Joseph Ali Nhan T Tran Kulanthayan Subramaniam Tasleem Akhtar Integrating ethics, health policy and health systems in low- and middle-income countries: case studies from Malaysia and Pakistan Bulletin of the World Health Organization |
| title | Integrating ethics, health policy and health systems in low- and middle-income countries: case studies from Malaysia and Pakistan |
| title_full | Integrating ethics, health policy and health systems in low- and middle-income countries: case studies from Malaysia and Pakistan |
| title_fullStr | Integrating ethics, health policy and health systems in low- and middle-income countries: case studies from Malaysia and Pakistan |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrating ethics, health policy and health systems in low- and middle-income countries: case studies from Malaysia and Pakistan |
| title_short | Integrating ethics, health policy and health systems in low- and middle-income countries: case studies from Malaysia and Pakistan |
| title_sort | integrating ethics health policy and health systems in low and middle income countries case studies from malaysia and pakistan |
| url | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862008000800013&lng=en&tlng=en |
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