Etika kesmas

Preamble
This code of ethics states key principles of the ethical practice of public health. An
accompanying statement lists the key values and beliefs inherent to a public health perspective
upon which the Ethical Principles are based. Public health is understood within these
principles as what we, as a society, do collectively to assure the conditions for people to be
healthy. We affirm the World Health Organization’s understanding of health as a state of
complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease
or infirmity.1
The Code is neither a new nor an exhaustive system of health ethics. Rather, it
highlights the ethical principles that follow from the distinctive characteristics of public
health. A key belief worth highlighting, and which underlies several of the Ethical
Principles, is the interdependence of people. This interdependence is the essence of
community. Public health not only seeks to assure the health of whole communities
but also recognizes that the health of individuals is tied to their life in the community.
The Code is intended principally for public and other institutions in the United
States that have an explicit public health mission. Institutions and individuals that are outside
of traditional public health, but recognize the effects of their work on the health of the
community, may also find the Code relevant and useful.

Values Values and Beliefs Underlying the Code
The following values and beliefs are key assumptions inherent to a public health perspective. They
underlie the 12 Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health.
Health,Community,

1. Humans have a right to the resources necessary for health. The Public Health Code of Ethicsaffirms Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states in part“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family…”
2. Humans are inherently social and interdependent. Humans look to each other for companionshi in friendships, families, and community; and rely upon one another for safety and survival.Positive relationships among individuals and positive collaborations among institutions ar signs of a healthy community. The rightful concern for the physical individuality of humans and one’s right to make decisions for oneself must be balanced against the fact that each person’s actions affect other people.
3.  The effectiveness of institutions depends heavily on the public’s trust. Factors that contribute to trust in an institution include the following actions on the part of the institution: communication; truth telling; transparency (i.e., not concealing information); accountability; reliability; and reciprocity. One critical form of reciprocity and communication is listening to as well as speaking with the community.
4. Collaboration is a key element to public health. The public health infrastructure of a society i composed of a wide variety of agencies and professional disciplines. To be effective, they must work together well. Moreover, new collaborations will be needed to rise to new public health challenges.
5. People and their physical environment are interdependent. People depend upon the resources of their natural and constructed environments for life itself. A damaged or unbalanced natural environment, and a constructed environment of poor design or in poor condition, will have an adverse effect on the health of people. Conversely, people can have a profound effect on their natural environment through consumption of resources and generation of waste.
6. Each person in a community should have an opportunity to contribute to public discourse Contributions to discourse may occur through a direct or a representative system of government. In the process of developing and evaluating policy, it is important to discern whether all who would like to contribute to the discussion have an opportunity to do so, even though expressing a concern does not mean that it will necessarily be addressed in the final policy.                                                                              Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health, 
7.   Identifying and promoting the fundamental requirements for health in a community are of primary concern to public health. The way in which a society is structured is reflected in the health of a community. The primary concern of public health is with these underlying structural aspects. While some important public health programs are curative in nature, the field as a whole must never lose sight of underlying causes and prevention. Because fundamental social structures affect many aspects of health, addressing the fundamental causes rather than more proximal causes is more truly preventive .Bases for Action
8. Knowledge is important and powerful. We are to seek to improve our understanding of health and the means of protecting it through research and the accumulation of knowledge. Once obtained, there is a moral obligation in some instances to share what is known. For example, active and informed participation in policy-making processes requires access to relevant information. In other instances, such as information provided in confidence, there is an obligation to protect information.
9. Science is the basis for much of our public health knowledge. The scientific method provides a relativel objective means of identifying the factors necessary for health in a population, and for evaluating policies and programs to protect and promote health. The full range of scientific tools, including both quantitative and qualitative methods, and collaboration among the sciences is needed.
10. People are responsible to act on the basis of what they know. Knowledge is not morally neutral and often demands action. Moreover, information is not to be gathered for idle interest. Public health should seek to translate available information into timely action. Often, the action required is research to fill in the gaps of what we don’t know.
11. Action is not based on information alone. In many instances, action is required in the absence of all the information one would like. In other instances, policies are demanded by the fundamental value and dignity of each human being, even if implementing them is not calculated to be optimally efficient or cost-beneficial. In both of these situations, values inform the application of information or the action in the absence of information.