public Health Communications and Advocacy
- 1. Public Health Communication and Advocacy Public Health laws should be confused with medical jurisprudence, which is concerned only in legal aspects of the application of application of medical and surgical knowledge to individuals. It’s not a branch of medicine but a science itself, to which however, preventive medicine is an important contributor. Public health laws is that branch of jurisprudence which treats of the application of common and statutory law to the principles of hygiene and sanitary science. James A. Tobey (1926) Public health laws are created to benefit the people and balance the social life and its necessities according to the community which includes ones liberty as well. Conventionally and traditionally, courts have been hesitant to invalidate public health laws. One of the most relevant examples is a case of Jacobson V. Massachusetts in 1905 who dealt with court casualties and in justification. Many Health care organizations exhibit land mafia skills as well, they also prohibit and sometimes ban the possession of hazardous materials. According to the Fifth Amendment, the government is required to compensate the affected individuals whose private property rights are taken or affected by public health law. It’s their responsibility to maintain the standard of this organization. Statues authorize public health officials to protect and enhance the public’s health and safety. Some are mandatory, and others are discretionary. It should maintain vital records, regulate air pollution, and hold open or public meetings. This way every stakeholder direct or indirect can be benefited. Discretionary factors can have; creating a waste disposal site, inspection of social serveries. Also the privacy rights which should not go beyond limits or not be invaded. Some say immunization requirements, compulsory HIV testing, and seat-belt laws infringe on individual rights and violate
- 2. the “right to privacy”. The right to privacy has been limited to intimate areas of life, which is till imbalanced (Edwin Chadwick Master’s theses 1850). Liability laws covering state and local health departments and employees vary considerably across the country. During the past decade there has been numerous reports and cases occurred in which Individuals’ health officers’ have “qualified immunity” from liability, a suit against an individual in his official capacity means the plaintiff is seeking recovery from the government. Generally, when you perform your public health duties in good faith and in a reasonable fashion, you are not personally liable for damages that may result from your acts. Going into the core definition Public law is the study of legal duties and powers of the state such that in a collaboration with its stakeholders including partners such as the media, the academe, the community business and the health care organizations which could ensure the conditions for people’s betterment and for them to be healthy. Also preventive actions like identification of health risks that could be present in the population or could damage in future. There should be set a limitation on the power of the state to constrain for the common good. The primary objective of public health law is to go after the highest possible level of physical and mental health in the population and it should be consistent with the values of social justice (Vanessa Northington Gamble, MD, PhD, 1997). The Government has some responsibilities to look after. Taking care of and implementing new health laws are their job. The government is the public entity that’s acts on behalf of the people and gains its legitimacy through a political process and sometimes vice versa. A democratically elected government is always expected a lot from the people, so it’s their privileges to act/perform duties with exercise powers to promote and protect the population’s health. Laws are designed to promote the common good many sometimes constrains, actions like riding a motorbike without helmet, smoking in public places which I believe should banned not only from public places but
- 3. also from every home. As members of society, we have common goals that go beyond our narrow interests. It’s very important to be calm and steady towards it and deal with it patiently (Hamlin C, Sheard S). In the 50s decade, before the first lawsuit against the tobacco industry was filed, the cigarette was a cultural icon. Smoking is injurious for health it’s just a preventive statement rather it must be dealt with serious attention as this disease is damaging the population till date. During the first wave, from 1954 to 1973, approximately 100-150 cases were filed against smoking and very few of them managed to make it through to the trial, this is one of the sad realities of history. Further no case did prevail the tobacco industry. Another recent case is of Ebola that arose overseas which has come ashore to the United States, resulting in a series of effective public health responses and high-visibility errors. Although the U.S has had one imported case from West Africa in October 27, 2014 which spread through Dallas leaving a patient from minor headache to emergency room. The severity of Public health issues should not be taken lightly, as people are the victim of direct impact. Evaluating novel and relatively untested vaccines can also be very dangerous and can cause implicit diseases. In 2000, one had to conjure up examples of public health issues. Today, examples smack us in the face almost daily. Think 9/11 and the massive emergency response that called into service some 11,000 professional rescue workers and volunteer first responders. Think Anthrax, SARS, smallpox, and the still present fears of bioterrorist attacks. Recall the unprecedented destruction from natural forces of Hurricane Katrina, the Greensburg Tornado, and the Asian Tsunami. Consider the massive resources that government authorities and private industries have spent and continue to spend preparing for pandemic swine flu, avian flu, West Nile virus, and other biological threats. Recall the international scare created when an Atlanta attorney infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis traveled on commercial airline flights in
- 4. Europe and the United States. Advocates and policymakers regularly invoke principles of, if not the term, public health, when advocating for programs to address obesity, gun violence, and Human Resource policies should be sufficiently flexible in order to accommodate the staff that is willing to volunteer to look after Ebola patients, it also includes those who are unable to volunteer due to certain risks or health issues. Federal and state public health laws, employment, contracts and licensed standards may require health workers to facilitate Ebola patients. It has been reported in USA that most patients who suspect or seem to believe that they have contracted Ebola will voluntarily seek medical care even if it includes temporary isolation from family and friends. If the suspected patient declines to go through any medical treatment or testing then Public Health care holds conditional privileges to appoint the suspected patient with health workers or take legal action to minimize the risk to the public’s health (Vanessa Northington Gamble, MD, PhD, 1997). Cases of highly infectious diseases such as Ebola with significant mortality rates heighten public health concerns. Mitigating these fears entails affirmative public health and health-care responses undergirded by the judicious use of legal tools and options to protect the safety of health workers and communities and provide patients and contacts with comprehensive medical and public health services. Balancing duties and risks at the intersection of law, medicine, and preparedness is about assuring optimal and compassionate treatments for those who are ill and preserving the public’s health. However the social media is playing a vital role in minimizing the effects of it in society. The educational background of Ebola with moral and ethical values should highly be preferred so that majority of the people get benefited (Gostin LO, Hodge JG Jr, 2015). Public Health care authorities have a broad privilege which allows them to have the power to institute a wide variety of measures to protect the public’s health and safety. The assurance on high level can play a beneficial role for people.
- 5. The concluding reflections of Public Health care and diseases like Ebola on the field is Public health is the science and the art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical health and efficiency through organized community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control of community infections, the Education of the individual in principles of personal hygiene, the organization of medical and nursing service for the early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of the social machinery which will ensure to every individual a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health; organizing these benefits in such fashion as to enable every citizen to realize his birthright of health and longevity (Charles Edward Winslow 1920). References:- Lawrence O. Gostin (2008), “Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint” Revised and Expanded Edition, University of California Press, Part 1-2 Sect.1-4 Vanessa Northington Gamble, MD, PhD, (1997), “Under the shadow of Tuskegee: African Americans and Health care” Vol.87, No.11, American Journal of Public Health. Edwin Chadwick Master’s theses (1850), “The Public Health Movement” University of Birmingham Research Archive, pg.1-20 Gostin LO, Hodge JG Jr, (2015) “Burris S. Is the United States prepared for Ebola?” JAMA 2014; E1-2. Hamlin C, Sheard S. “Revolutions in Public Health: 1848 and 1998” Bulletin of the world health Organization, 2005, 83 (11)