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BIOETYKA / ETYKA MEDYCZNA - Przeglądy aktów prawnych
Zdrowie publiczne

Prawa o zasięgu światowym

Stanowisko w sprawie lekarzy i zdrowia publicznego – WMA Statement on Physicians and Public Health


  1. Physicians and their professional associations have an ethical and professional responsibility to act in the best interests of patients at all times. This involves collaboration with public health agencies to integrate medical care of individual patients with a broader promotion of the health of the public.

  2. The health of a community or population is determined by several factors that go beyond traditionally understood causes of disease. Classically defined determinants of health, aside from the genetic and biological constitution of individuals, include factors that affect behavioural lifestyle choices, factors that affect the physical, psychosocial and economic environments in which individuals live, and factors that affect the health services available to people. Public health traditionally involves monitoring, assessing and planning a variety of programs and activities targeted to the identified needs of the population, and the public health sector should have the capacity to carry out those functions effectively to optimise community health. The key functions of public health agencies are:

  1. Health promotion:

    1. Working with health care providers to inform and enable the general public to take an active role in preventing and controlling disease, adopting healthful lifestyles, and using medical services appropriately;

    2. Assuring that conditions contributing to good health, including high-quality medical services, safe water supplies, good nutrition, an unpolluted atmosphere, and opportunities for exercise and recreation are accessible for the entire population;

    3. Working with the responsible public authorities to create healthy public policy and supportive environments in which healthy behavioural choices are the easy choices, and to develop human and social capital.

  2. Prevention: assuring access to screening and other preventive services and curative care to the entire population.

  3. Protection: monitoring and protecting the health of communities against communicable diseases and exposure to toxic environmental pollutants, occupational hazards, harmful products, and poor quality health services. This function includes the need to set priorities, establish essential programs, obtain requisite resources and assure the availability of necessary public health laboratory services.

  4. Surveillance: identifying outbreaks of infectious disease and patterns of chronic disease and injury and establishing appropriate control or prevention programs;

  5. Population Health Assessment: assessing community health needs and marshalling the resources for responding to them, and developing health policy in response to specific community and national health needs.