Compensation for trial-related injury: does simplicity compromise fairness?

This paper examines the following ethically and epidemiologicallyrelevant challenges, as yet neglected in public health ethics: howto distribute resources and health risks and benefits, how to defineevidentiary criteria that justify public health interventions, andhow to define terms in which programme goals, successes, andfailures will be assessed and monitored. We illuminate criticalintersections of empirical and ethical dimensions of public healthwork, drawing upon three global public health interventions—inclusion of the Hepatitis B vaccine in the Universal ImmunisationProgramme, Universal Salt Iodisation, and the Global PolioEradication Initiative—and suggest strategies for addressing andresponding to them.Introduction We draw upon three national public health programmes inIndia—the inclusion of the Hepatitis B vaccine in the UniversalImmunisation Programme, Universal Salt Iodisation (USI), andthe Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)—to explore criticalintersections of epidemiology and public health ethics thatcan be applied to new public health initiatives and ongoingprojects throughout the Asian subcontinent and the world. The first of these programmes, the inclusion of Hepatitis Bvaccine in the Universal Immunisation Programme, has beenintroduced in several phases in India. It is too early to see theinfluence of this programme on health outcomes in India, butIndian Journal of Medical Ethics Vol IX No 4 October December 2012