Minnesota Pandemic Ethics Project
MN, you’ve been in the news lately. Here’s one for you. The Minnesota Pandemic Ethics Project is part of the state of Minnesota’s efforts to plan for the possibility of an influenza pandemic. They chose to focus this project on … Read more
Stakeholder analyses
Ethics in a pandemic is less often about the right decision than about the right way to make decisions. Stakeholder analysis is an important part in assembling the right group to make a particular decision. Tools for stakeholder analysis are … Read more
What we’ve learned
Katelyn Jetelina – Your Local Epidemiologist – listed her post-COVID lessons: Meet people where they are, not where you wish they were. It’s not a website with an 85-page PDF, nor in polished press conferences. Listen to frustrations, confusion, and … Read more
Unlearning colonial ways of doing good
How can we protect the health of populations in ways that are just and non-colonial? I describe the roots of colonialism, what it looks like today, and how to unlearn what we’ve unconsciously adopted in “But I Meant Well: Unlearning … Read more
Ethics Competencies
Competencies in public health ethics to teach in public health programs are available on the Public Health Ethics and Law website.
A faith-based perspective on ending PEPFAR
“We should be evaluating policies and programs not merely by the party that supports them, but by the ways they bring about or hinder human flourishing.” The Future of PEPFAR: A Faith-Based Perspective on Global Health Policy Changes
Moral courage
Standing firm for what one believes takes courage. This week we saw an object lesson in courage as leaders of the CDC, cheered on by employees, resigned rather than deny the scientific basis of public health decisions.
Neglected topics
I recently declined to edit a textbook on pandemic ethics (I’m writing another ethics-related book at the moment). Had I agreed, though, I wanted to include chapters on neglected topics, such as: social forces like nationalism that affect the likelihood … Read more
Policy-based evidence making
The U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has been reformed to reflect the views of Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The committee now includes several people who are not well-informed about science or vaccines. In this recent … Read more
Pandemic Agreement
World Health Assembly adopts historic Pandemic Agreement to make the world more equitable and safer from future pandemics. https://www.who.int/news/item/20-05-2025-world-health-assembly-adopts-historic-pandemic-agreement-to-make-the-world-more-equitable-and-safer-from-future-pandemics