Last summer I had the opportunity to work with a team studying the correlation between climate change, migration, and health systems resilience and while doing so recognized several challenges regarding eco-conscious research practices. The issue at hand is that many researchers do not conceptualize their work through the lens of sustainability. It is a […]
Tag: ethics
COVID-19 and Convalescent Plasma: when compassion and ethics are in conflict.
“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.” – Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784), English Author, Poet and Writer. The current pandemic of COVID19 came upon the world suddenly. With little knowledge about SARS CoV2, armed with only with some selected data, extrapolated from SARS, MERS, the world […]
An ethical perspective from the COVID-19 frontline
In a call with the local health department on panemic control, I asked , what was being done to provide isolation for infected farm workers, prisoners, and the homeless. A member of the department replied, “We have that covered.” When I asked about the steps being taken, he said, “Are you implying that we […]
Ethical Pandemic Control
What makes the difference in whether actions in the face of a pandemic such COVID-19 are perceived as ethical or unethical? And why does this matter to the trajectory of a pandemic? Traditionally in public health ethics, five factors have played a prominent role in ethically responding to an epidemic. Organism biology Infectiousness and […]
Can 50 by 30 for road safety be achieved without the equity lens?
Last week, the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety was held in Stockholm, Sweden (19-20 February 2020). The new proposed target is to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 50% in a new decade of SDG action for road safety to 2030, #50by30. To accelerate progress, major funding has been committed to […]
What does data privacy and its commercialisation mean for global health?
In the world where digital health is becoming the norm – what does data privacy and commercialisation mean for global health ? writes Michael Johnson Imagine you are an activist working to fight corruption within your own government. For ten years you have been receiving regular HIV treatment, but your HIV status is known only […]
Human experiments and ethics – Global Health matters.
Global Health can serve as an incubator to facilitate understanding of trans-disciplinary best practice approaches. The WHO is demonstrating its new approach to global health with swift action for basic research standards. Responding to the international scandal on targeted genetic intervention in humans,the WHO Director General talks about gene having unintended consequences and that the […]