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Yale School of Public Health Alumni Day 2008 “Global health, like global climate change, may soon become a matter so important to the world’s future that it demands international attention and no State can escape the responsibility to act,” said Lawrence Gostin at the Yale School of Public Health Alumni Day held June 6.
In his keynote address, Gostin contended that there is an unethical distribution of quality health care within the global community. While there are large pockets of excellent care, for many people around the globe health care remains substandard or nonexistent. Gostin maintained that Western nations must assume greater responsibility, if not for purely ethical reasons, then to protect their own national interests. Within the past few decades alone, some 30 new infectious diseases have emerged, many of them virulent. With today’s global economy and the mass migration of people, these diseases can no longer be contained. A public health crisis in Africa, for instance, potentially has profound implications for people living in the North America or Europe, Gostin noted. (Gostin’s full speech). Public health ethics was the focus of the day as alumni and friends gathered in New Haven to explore the complex ethical questions that public health professionals grapple with daily. Gostin opened the discussion with an examination of ethics and global health law. Citing sobering statistics on life expectancy and infant mortality in developing countries, Gostin posed the central question: Why should governments care about serious health threats outside their borders? When rich countries do act, Gostin remarked, it is often out of narrow self-interest rather than a sense of ethical or legal obligation.
Panel member Bruce Jennings said that there is simply no way that someone in the field of public health can avoid ethical analysis. (Jenning’s full presentation). Public health ethics are as broad as the field of public health itself. The panelists, representing a variety of public health disciplines, demonstrated how ethical questions impact and inform their work on a daily basis. The message was clear: The need to exercise power to ensure health, and at the same time avoid potential abuses of power, is the crux of public health ethics. Ethical considerations are a crucial part of being the state epidemiologist, James L. Hadler told the gathering. He described how politics often invade the realm of public health, resulting in situations that are difficult to solve. (Hadler’s full presentation). He cited a case where mosquitoes possibly carrying West Nile Virus threatened the public health, but many members of the public did not want a potentially toxic spray used near their homes, family and pets. For Thomas J. Krause and his staff, ethics are something that they reflect on every day as they strive to deliver quality care to some of the neediest segments of the population in Bridgeport. It is a constant challenge to maintain and deliver this care as demand increases and funding is cut. (Krause’s full presentation). Stewart D. Smith, meanwhile, described the type of ethical considerations that arise when disasters such as Hurricane Katrina or 9–11 occur. The human need is sudden and overwhelming and if a well-designed plan is not in place, people will suffer. For example, it needs to be decided well ahead of time who gets evacuated first. No less important for many people are family pets. Do rescuers simultaneously save pets as they rescue people? (Smith’s full presentation).
Following the panel discussion, participants gathered for the Alumni Day Luncheon. Robert E. Steele, Ph.D. ’75, M.P.H. ’71, and the immediate past President of the Association of Yale Alumni in Public Health, received this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award for his outstanding leadership and contributions to YSPH. The New Professionals Award—which honors a graduate within the last 10 years who has demonstrated outstanding potential as an emerging and innovative leader—was presented to Keshia Pollack, Ph.D., M.P.H. ’02. Virginia M. Alexander, M.D., M.P.H. ’41 was recognized, posthumously, with the Award for Excellence in Public Health Practice. ~ Photographs by JoAnne Wilcox |
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