1. Ethics, Law, and Public Health: Inextricably Intertwined
Professor of Law, University of Bristol; Honorary Member, FPH
Faculty of Public Health Annual Conference, 21st June, 2016

2. “The public health community takes it as an article of faith that health must be society's overarching value. Yet politicians do not always see it that way…
“What is needed is a clear vision of, and rationale for, healthy populations as a political priority.”
Lawrence Gostin and Lindsay Wiley, Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint (University of California Press, 2016), p. 7

3. Focus on “public health”: Protecting and promoting population health
FPH: Public health is the “science and art of promoting and protecting health and well-being, preventing ill-health and prolonging life through the organised efforts of society.”
Focus on “public health”:
Protecting and promoting population health
Collective activities/interventions: governments, health systems, society as a whole
Angus Dawson and Marcel Verweij, “”Public Health Ethics: A Manifesto” (2008) 1:1, 1-2

4. Ethics and Law in Public Health
A mandate to improve population health
A mandate to address social (health) inequalities
A shared responsibility for health across society
A role for government and other partners

5. Laws (good and bad…) and Public Health
Public health law is:
“A field of study and practice that concerns those aspects of law, policy, and regulation that advance or place constraints upon the protection and promotion of health (howsoever understood) within, between, and across populations.”
John Coggon, Keith Syrett, and A.M. Viens, Public Health Law: Ethics, Governance, and Regulation (Routledge, 2017)

6. “Public Health”, “Population Health”, “the Public’s Health”…
The academic question in public health ethics:
What makes health public?
The activist’s (and practitioner’s) question:
How do we make health public?

7. Roles of, and Challenges for, Ethics as a Competency
Critical analysis and engaged application: knowledge and understanding
Professional and wider practical guidance, frameworks
Advocacy and political/public discourse
Health in all policies; address inequalities; change environment…
No longer just a Public Health Ethics?: a wholesale Social Ethics?
Either way, intrinsically political, and needs to be addressed as such