Abstract
Social justice is a core value of public health. However, the public health core competencies for Canada document (release 1.0) does not contain any explicit reference to the essential attributes of social justice within the competencies themselves. We argue that social justice attributes should be integrated into the core competencies and propose examples for consideration.
Key words: Social justice, public health, human rights
Résumé
La justice sociale est une valeur fondamentale en santé publique. Cependant, le document sur les compétences de base pour la santé publique au Canada (version 1.0) ne fait pas explicitement mention des attributs essentiels de la justice sociale dans les compétences mêmes. Nous tentons de démontrer, avec exemples à l’appui, que les attributs de la justice sociale devraient être intégrés dans les compétences de base.
Mots clés: justice sociale, santé publique, droits humains
Footnotes
Acknowledgements: Dr. Edwards holds a Nursing Chair from the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Dr. Davison is a post-doctoral fellow funded by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Global Health Research Initiative.
References
- 1.Canadian Nurses Association. Social Justice: A Means to an End, an End in Itself. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Nurses Association; 2006. [Google Scholar]
- 2.Krieger N. Latin American social medicine: The quest for social justice and public health. Am J Public Health. 2003;93(12):1989–91. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.93.12.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Wright-Edelman M, Levy BS, Sidel VW. Social Injustice and Public Health. Oxford, Cambridge, MA: University Press; 2006. [Google Scholar]
- 4.Henig RM. The People’s Health, A Memoir of Public Health and its Evolution at Harvard. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC: Joseph Henry Press; 1997. [Google Scholar]
- 5.Gostin LO, Powers M. What does social justice require for the public’s health? Public health ethics and policy imperatives. Health Affairs. 2006;25(4):1053–60. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.25.4.1053. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 6.Emerson BP. The development of a draft set of public health workforce core competencies: Summary report. 2005. [Google Scholar]
- 7.National Advisory Committee on SARSPublic Health. Learning from SARS: Renewal of Public Health in Canada. Ottawa, ON: Health Canada; 2003. [Google Scholar]
- 8.Federal, ProvincalTerritorial Advisory Committee on Population Health Canadian. Survey of Public Health Capacity in Canada: Highlights. Ottawa: The Advisory Committee; 2002. [Google Scholar]
- 9.Moloughney B. The Development of a Draft Set of Public Health Workforce Core Competencies. 2004. [Google Scholar]
- 10.Mowat DL, Moloughney BW. Developing the public health workforce in Canada: A summary of regional workshops on workforce education and training. Can J Public Health. 2004;95(3):186–87. doi: 10.1007/BF03403645. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 11.Public Health Agency of Canada. The Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada: Release 1.0. 2007. [Google Scholar]
- 12.General Assembly of the United Nations. Achievement of Social Justice. 1990. [Google Scholar]
- 13.Krieger N. A vision of social justice as the foundation of public health: Commemorating 150 years of the spirit of 1848. Am J Public Health. 1998;88:1603–6. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.88.11.1603. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 14.Canadian Nurses Association. About the Canadian Nurses Association. 2004. [Google Scholar]
- 15.Innerarity F. The goal of a ‘society for all’. Int Soc Sci J. 1999;51(4):437–42. doi: 10.1111/1468-2451.00213. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 16.Melton G. Mental health and social justice: A vision for the 21st century. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2003;73(3):245–47. doi: 10.1037/0002-9432.73.3.245. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 17.Annan K. Economic development, democracy, social justice must advance hand in hand: Secretary General’s address to the thirteenth Ibero-American Summit. 2003. [Google Scholar]
- 18.Axworthy LS. Retaining Canada’s health care system as a global public good. CMAJ. 2002;167(4):365. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 19.Rawls J. Justice as fairness. Philosophy of Public Affairs. 1985;14:223–51. [Google Scholar]
- 20.De Cock KMM. Shadow on the continent: Public health and HIV/AIDS in Africa in the 21st century. Lancet. 2002;360(9326):67. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(02)09337-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 21.Chang WC. The meaning and goals of equity in health. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2002;56(7):488–91. doi: 10.1136/jech.56.7.488. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 22.Daniels N, Kennedy BP, Kawachi I. Why is justice good for our health: The social determinants of health inequalities. J Am Acad Arts Sci. 1999;128:211–51. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 23.Peter F. Health equity and social justice. J Appl Philosophy. 2000;18(2):159–70. doi: 10.1111/1468-5930.00183. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 24.Tisdell JG. Equity and social justice in water doctrines. Soc Justice Res. 2003;16(4):401–16. doi: 10.1023/A:1026365700255. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 25.Davison CM, Edwards N, Webber J, Robinson S. The development of a social justice gauge and its use to review the Canadian Nurses Association’s code of ethics for registered nurses. Adv Nurs Sci. 2006;29(4):E13. doi: 10.1097/00012272-200610000-00010. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 26.Fitzpatrick JJ. Social justice, human rights, and nursing education. Nurs Educ Perspect. 2003;24(2):65. doi: 10.1097/00024776-200803000-00002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 27.Smith L, Baluch S, Bernabei S, Robohm J. Sheehy J. Applying a social justice framework to college counselling centre practice. J College Counselling. 2003;6(1):13. [Google Scholar]
- 28.Raphael D. Social justice is good for our hearts: Why societal factors — not lifestyles — are major causes of heart disease in Canada and elsewhere. Toronto, ON: Centre for Social Justice Foundation for Research and Education; 2002. [Google Scholar]
- 29.Sen A. Commodities and Capabilities. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.; 1985. [Google Scholar]
- 30.Risman B. Social Responsibility and Justice. 2006. [Google Scholar]
- 31.Middleton JD. Health, environmental and social justice. Local Environment. 2003;8(2):155. doi: 10.1080/1354983032000048479. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
