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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Lawrence Gostin, JD, LLD, Associate Dean and Professor of Law, Georgetown University, Georgetown University Law Center, 600 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20001, 202-662-9373, gostin@law.georgetown.edu

This talk will first define public health law, which includes seven themes: (1) government power and duty, (2) coercion and limits on state power, (3) government's partners in the “public health system,” (4) the population focus, (5) communities and civic participation, (6) the prevention orientation, and (7) social justice. It will then demonstrate why population health should be a salient political priority. It will conclude by demonstrating how law can be a tool for improving the population's health. The presentation will develop these themes in a transnational perspective, focusing particularly between public health law and ethics in Europe and North America.

Learning Objectives: The learning objectives will be to

(
• better understand the meaning and purposes of public health law; (
• to better understand the ethical values behind population health; and (
• to learn how law can provide a means for safeguarding and improving the population’s health, including changing the informational and built environment, direct regulation of businesses, and indirect regulation through the torts system.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No