Ebola and Public Health Ethics: Navigating a Perfect Storm

The Ebola outbreak is a global public health ethics perfect storm.  Starting with decisions about obligations of well-resourced countries to aid those areas in dire need, public health officials have to manage ignorance, fear and panic on the part of politicians, policy makers and the general public.  They must provide real-time implementation of risk reduction protocols to protect health workers, exposed and infected Ebola patients, and those with whom they come into contact.  Stigmatization of Ebola survivors, their families, and all workers who care for them (including public health researchers visiting affected areas) is thwarting efforts of trained workers to deal with the outbreak and the needs of those affected by the disease to return to their lives with any degree of normalcy.

I will lay out an ethical framework for navigating complex issues like protecting health workers, managing risk to the public, and responding to public fear and stigmatization of those involved in the Ebola outbreak.  Using guiding principles of reciprocity, transparency, solidarity, privacy, and proportionality, we can interpret the duty to care broadly in ways that protect both the health needs of the public and the rights of individuals.