Ethics in epidemiology and public health II. Applied terms.

In the first part of this two part glossary, we introduced fundamental—so called “technical”—terms used in both clinical bioethics and public health ethics. Though there may be variations in emphasis or connotation across different disciplines, we believe the definitions provided there can be understood by people working from a broad range of perspectives. In the present installment we turn our attention to terms more closely related to the professional practice of epidemiology and public health, though with clear overlap in other areas. In her earlier contribution to this series dealing with social epidemiology, Nancy Krieger tackled several definitions that are central to our task, including social justice, social equity, and human rights. Our assignment having thus been made easier, we limit the current list to terms not previously defined. Our purpose is, first, to provide a set of brief, coherent definitions that can be used in discussing the ethical justification of one action over another, and, second, to stimulate the discussion of ethical concepts within the discipline. Discussion and debate about the application of these concepts to our professional practice will surely be a positive step in increasing our sensitivity to ethical issues and our skill in ethical analysis.