Health Promotion Code of Ethics

[Pius.Attandoh]

Indeed Hope, I think you're spot on on the need for us to prioritise in the midst of scarce resources.And in doing so(deciding what the priority item should be), I think it's important to involve the target beneficiaries. We're most likely to fail if we as facilitators choose for community members their perceived priorities.
Sometimes you can't blame h.promoters as the decision to carry out certain activities emanate from the powers that be. In other words, the interests of the already 'empowered' are considered at the expense of the disadvantaged.

[DKCiccone]

Thanks,Torill, for encouraging ISECN members to participate in this discussion.

I think that establishing a code of ethics is a worthwhile exercise to prevent 'recreating the wheel' every time ethical dilemmas arise in the field. This may be obvious, but I do also think that in drafting such a code we ought to be sensitive to the limitations health promoters often face as a result of the political, cultural or financial context of their work. We ought to hold ourselves to promoting the equitable distribution of resources and supporting the most marginalized as best we can, but when other bodies/powers are holding the reins how can we be effective in demanding a contrary course of action more in line with our ethics? Also, it is oftentimes difficult to determine at the time a project is implemented, what the real long term impact will be to the community as a whole. It would be great if at some point down the line (pie in the sky, I know) there could be some sort of centralized ethical review board to keep a record of successful projects and lessons learned to help us collectively move forward as professionals.

Obviously, in a more general sense, we want to be building capacity within communities to help them gain empowerment over their own health. In my head I imagine that an ethical code will be written from this perspective; such that not just the ethics of our daily actions, but also our long term impact, are emphasized.

[Mìlène]

Hi everyone,

I'm quite new in HP (actually, I'm doing my master in Laval University) but I found this discussion very interesting and I would like to share my toughts about the present topic.

I first tought the idea of a code of ethic very intersting. And then I ask to myself, what would it be? As I was putting ideas on paper, I try to apply them but I found alaways an exception. So I tought instead of a code of ethics, we can think about a code of deontoloy of the health promoters. If we try to create specifis ethicals rules, I think it may be too restrictive for the large diversity of the HP. A deontologic' code could respond to the need of the HP promoters to have a guideline for their interventions.

Finally, this semester, I have this class "Ethics in HP" and I can suggest you our main reading : Éthique en santé publique of Raymond Massé. It's in french, but it's very interesting when you try to resolve ethical dilemmas. It suggests some values you can relie to.

Thank you for reading me,
Milène
Laval University

[Torill.Bull]

Dear Milène,

Thanks for your very interesting thoughts! Sorry for the late response, I have been travelling.

As many of the readers do not read French, would it be possible for you to list some of the values you find in the book you mention? Which areas do you think a deontology for health promotion should cover?

Best regards,

Torill Bull

[bukdub]

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