INTRODUCTION TO

THE PUBLIC HEALTH

LAW
GREEN HOPE UNIVERSITY
Dr. Abdirahman Moalim Hassan
(BSc in MBBS, BSc in GN, Master of Health service Mgt , Candidate PhD of
Nursing Science )
Contents

• Unit 1: The Concept of Law

• Unit 2: Morality

• Unit 3: Classification and Function of Law

• Unit 4: Sources of Law

Contents

• Unit 5: Law Making Process

• Unit 6: Sources of Public Health Laws

• Unit 7: Types of Public Health Laws

• Unit 8: Public Health Law Offences

 Contents

• Unit 9: Rights of Criminal

• Unit 10: Process of Enforcing Public Health Laws

• Unit 11: Public Health Laws Enforcement Bodies

 INTRODUCTION
Public health law and public health policy are fundamental tools that assist
states in the task of protecting people from threats to health, preventing
disease, and striving for healthy populations.
Public health law is the study of the legal powers and duties of the state, in
collaboration with its partners (e.g., health care, business, the community, the
media, and academe), to ensure the conditions for people to be healthy (to
identify, prevent, and protect risks to health in the population), and of the
limitations on the power of the state to constrain for the common good the
autonomy, privacy, freedom, proprietary, and other legally protected interests
of individuals.
• Public health law examines the authority of the government at various
jurisdictional levels to improve the health of the general population within
societal limits and norms.

• Public health law focuses on the duties of the government to achieve these
goals, limits on that power, and the population perspective.
The prime objective of public health law is to pursue the highest possible level
of physical and mental health in the population, consistent with the values of
social justice.

Several themes emerge from this definition:

(1) government power and responsibility

(2) pressure and limits on state power.

(3) government’s partners.

in the “public health system,”
1. the population focus,
2. communities and public participation,
3. the prevention orientation, and social justice .

The government has primary responsibility for the public’s health

• Without law society could not deal with disputes and problems in orderly
fashion, the law of any society are flexible and every changing though either
legislative process judicial division.
 Definitions

• Law: system of rights and obligations which the state enforces

• Law: is the body of principles recognized and applied by the state and
administration of justice

• Ethic is the systematic study of what is right and good with respect to conduct
and character.

• Ethics are the rules and principles that govern right conduct.

• Morality describes the principles that govern our behavior.

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and
their communities.

This work is achieved by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and

injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious
diseases.

Public health promotes and protects the health of people and the communities
where they live, learn, work and play.
 Laws and policies

• Laws and policies affect almost every aspect of life — shaping not only where
but how individuals and communities live, learn, work, and play.

• For example, laws and policies can help prevent the spread of communicable
diseases, ensure that food is safe for consumption, provide access to
transportation, and establish guidelines for safe housing.
• Equally important is the foundational role that the law plays in the everyday
practice of public health.

• Law and policy are essential tools for protecting and promoting the health of
the public.
 Important questions

• What is public health law, and why is it important for non-lawyers ?

• What do public health practitioners need to know to route the legal system?
How can they identify the most effective legal and policy tools to protect the
health and well-being of individuals and communities?

• How can different levels of government collaborate to achieve improved

health outcomes?
 Different between law and morality
• Law regulate external human conduct while Morality mainly
regulates internal conduct
• Laws are universal while morality is variable
• Laws are definite and precise while morality is variable
• Laws are upheld by the coercive power of state while morality simply
enjoy the support of public opinion
• Laws are studies under jurisprudence while morality is studied under
ethics.
 Law can be divided broadly in to civil law
and criminal law
• Civil law: the part of the legal system which relates to personal matters, such
as marriage and property, rather than crime, civil law includes regulations that
specify the required course of action to be followed by an individual in
business and social relationship with others.

• It concerned with relationship among others people and protection of the

person’s rights.
• Criminal law: the part of the legal system which relates to punishing people
who break the law.

• Offense public welfare and society and impose penalties, it includes rules
forbidding conduct that is injurious to public orders and specifying
punishment to be administrative to the individual who exhibits injurious
conduct.
 Morality as it relates to our behavior is important on three levels.

A. To ensure fair play and harmony between individuals

B. To help make us good people in order to have a good society

C. To keep in a good relationship with the authority .

 The Determinants of Health

• There are many factors that affect the health status of individuals and
communities. Factors such as where we live, genetics, income, and education
greatly contribute to our health.

• These factors are known as determinants of health.

There are many different kinds of health determinants, but they generally fall
under the following broad categories:

1. Individual characteristics and behaviors

2. The physical and social environment

3. Health services
 Individual Characteristics and Behaviors

There are two basic kinds of health determinants that relate to our individual-
level characteristics:

• Biological and genetic determinants

• Behavioral determinants
 Behavioral determinants

• Behavioral determinants are modifiable individual characteristics that we have some

control over. These include things like diet, exercise, hand washing, unprotected sex,
tobacco use, and alcohol use.

• Behavioral factors can increase our risk of both chronic diseases and infectious diseases.

• For example, cigarette smoking increases an individual's risk of chronic diseases such as
heart disease and lung cancer, while unprotected sex increases an individual's risk of
sexually transmitted infections such as HIV.
 Biological and genetic determinants

• Biological and genetic determinants are fixed individual characteristics that we

cannot control.

• These includes things like age, sex, family history of disease, and inherited
conditions, like sickle cell disease.

• Some of these factors affect the health of certain populations more than
others. For example, sickle cell disease is particularly common among people
whose ancestors came from sub-Saharan Africa.
 The Physical and Social Environment

There are also two kinds of health determinants that relate to the environments
in which we live:

• Physical determinants

• Social determinants
 Physical determinants
Physical determinants are factors related to the physical conditions in which we
live, work, and learn. Our health is greatly impacted by the natural environment,
the built environment, and the physical spaces around us.

For example, we know that exposure to pollution can have wide-ranging and
lifelong health effects.

Access to neighborhood sidewalks is another example of a physical determinant of

health. Neighborhoods without sidewalks can hinder physical activity and create
physical barriers for people with disabilities.
 Social determinants

• Social determinants are factors related to the social conditions in which we

live, work, and learn.

• This category includes socioeconomic factors (such educational opportunities

and employment opportunities), social norms and attitudes, social support,
and many other factors related to the social environment.

• For example, socioeconomic conditions, such as poverty, can impact our access
to the resources we need to meet our daily needs.
 Law as a public health tool
• Law as a public health tool Legal tools such as statutes, regulations and
litigation have played a vital role in historic and modern public health
achievements including advances in infectious disease control, food safety,
occupational health, injury prevention and emergency preparedness and
response.
• For example, local governments have passed clean indoor air legislation to
address tobacco as a health hazard, state courts have upheld vaccination
mandates and federal regulations have established vehicle performance crash
standards to promote motor vehicle safety
 Sources of public health law

Legal authority relevant to population health comes from five basic legal
sources and from every level of government.

1. Constitutions. All government action to advance public health must be

consistent with constitutional authority and constitutional protections of
individual rights.
2. International agreements.

3. Legislation. The legislative branch (Congress, state legislatures and city

councils and other local legislative bodies) creates policies and distributes
public funds by enacting statutes, which are commonly called ordinances at the
local level.
4. Regulations. The executive branch (the President, governor, mayor, county
executive and agencies such as departments of public health) may issue rules
and regulations based on authority delegated by the legislature through
statutes. Local boards of health are administrative bodies whose members are
appointed or elected to lead, guide and oversee the delivery of public health
services and activities in their local communities.
• The role boards of health play in public health generally depends on their legal
authority and powers as defined in state statutes.

• In addition, executive branch officials are authorized to issue legally binding

executive orders.

• Regulatory decisions, and the laws governing executive branch actions, are
known collectively as “administrative law.”
5. Case law. The judicial branch, through courts, resolves disputes and
interprets laws, including balancing community needs with
constitutionally- protected rights of individuals.
The end
Thank you