Author: Thomas J., McNabb S.
Publisher: Global Health Data Methods
Publication Year: N/A
Summary: The following article discusses how misuse in health range from a physician not informing their patient about the risks of a procedure they will perform to the manager of a public health data system not protecting the confidentiality of patient records. Public health systems must protect the confidentiality of sensitive information while ensuring practitioners can use the data to provide health services equitably. The principles of ethics coming from medicine, research, and human rights do not adequately address critical issues encountered by public health decision-makers. Public health policies, programs, and priorities should be developed and evaluated through processes that ensure an opportunity for input from community members. Public health institutions should provide communities with the information they have that is needed for decisions on policies or programs and should obtain the community’s consent for their implementation. For example, they can keep individuals informed about how the system uses and shares data collected about them. These new big data sources have many potential uses and implications for public health, including enhanced disease detection and surveillance. Ethical issues have emerged around transparency of methods of analysis, collaboration between private (for profit) and public (not for profit) institutions, data ownership and sharing, and individual privacy.
