MPH8208 Ethics in Public Health and Research

This course introduces students to professionalism, bioethics, legal and social foundations of public health. The learner shall appreciate the codes of public health discipline, when the individual interests yield to achieve collective benefits of the community. The learner shall be introduced to legal and moral systems and how they interplay to ensure health of the population.

Course Aim

The students to appreciate principles and application of ethics in public health, understand the norms, values and that form legal and social foundations of public health. The students shall examine the rights and freedoms of individuals and communities. They will be taken through the ethical dilemmas and how to go over them.

Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able:

• To define, understand bioethics and professionalism
• Examine the construction of norms, values and morals that legal and social foundations of public health codes and practice.
• Assess the risks of the public and communities against rights and freedoms of individuals
• To apply knowledge of bioethics and professionalism to practical situations
• Demonstrate understanding of use of bioethics and professionalism in improvement of healthcare and research
• Apply ethical principles in public decision making, project designs, apprising research findings and adopting new technologies.
• Appraise the circumstances for the application of national laws, regulations and police powers as tools for regulating private interests, promoting healthy behaviour, and enforcing safety standards for enterprises, social interactions and control of infectious diseases.
• Analyse the interaction between national and global laws and conventions in dealing with globalised health threats arising from trade and capitalism transnational disease outbreaks and bio-terrorism.