Issues of Evidence, Ethics, Social Justice, and Action in APHA Policy Development: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict as a Case Study

Background

Within the United States, there is a strong tradition of public health advocacy to address the social determinants of health, including in settings of political conflict. Since 2008, a series of resolutions has been proposed to express this advocacy in regard to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.  And since 2009, APHA has been working to improve its policy development process to clarify issues of evidence, the role of human rights, and the importance of transparency. This paper assesses the preparation and defeat of the 2013 APHA policy statement C7: Improving Health in Occupied Palestinian Territory as a case study to understand the challenges of developing public health policy concerning Palestinian health.

Methods

Drawing on scientific evidence and human rights reports, the resolution’s authors detailed consequences of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian health and recommended 5 action steps to alleviate the damage caused by the occupation.

Results

While the resolution gained considerable support among the membership and sections, the Joint Policy Committee recommended rejection of the resolution and it failed in the Governing Council.

Discussion

The paper’s goal is to stimulate open discussion on issues of policy development in APHA concerning the application of standards of evidence, ethical values, public discourse and transparency concerning Palestine.