Daniel has taught Public Health at the graduate level and has a Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences & Health Education.
Public Health Law & Policies: Definition & Examples
Table of Contents
- Public Health Law
- The Prevention Orientation
- The Population Perspective
- Public Health Law Strategies
- Lesson Summary
What do speed limits, smoking bans, and school vaccination laws all have in common? They each represent laws that have contributed to major public health achievements over the last century. Speed limits on roads and highways have increased motor vehicle safety. Smoking bans in workplaces and other public spaces have protected people from the dangerous effects of second-hand smoke. And laws requiring vaccinations for public school students have dramatically reduced the spread of many infectious diseases.
These are just a few examples of public health law. Public health law refers to any statute, rule, or ordinance that has the purpose of promoting or protecting the public health. Public health laws and policies aim to fulfill society's interest in assuring conditions for people to be healthy.
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There are several characteristics that distinguish public health law from other areas of health law, such as medical law and healthcare law. Many areas of health law tend to focus on issues related to disease treatment. For example, medical malpractice laws allow patients to pursue civil claims against physicians who cause injury or death when providing treatment.
Public health law, however, has a distinct emphasis on disease and injury prevention. Let's use smoking bans as an example to illustrate this concept. We've already discussed how smoking bans aim to prevent exposure to second-hand smoke.
But why? These laws are based on decades of research showing that second-hand smoke is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, cancer, emphysema, and other diseases. The primary goal of smoking bans and other public health laws is to prevent avoidable cases of disease and injury.
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Another distinguishing characteristic of public health law is its focus on population health, which aims to improve the health of entire human populations. Public health laws and policies are often intended to promote the common good, which refers to shared benefits for all or most members of a given community.
School vaccination laws help demonstrate this concept. Every U.S. state has laws requiring children to be vaccinated against certain diseases, such as measles, mumps, and rubella, in order to attend public schools. All states allow certain children to be exempted for medical reasons, and most states also allow for religious exemptions; however, vaccinations are required for most children.
These laws aim to promote the common good through a phenomenon known as herd immunity. Herd immunity is a form of indirect protection from infectious disease for individuals who are not immune to an infection. Herd immunity occurs when a large proportion of the population is vaccinated against a disease, which disrupts chains of infection and thereby provides indirect protection for individuals who are not vaccinated.
Public health laws that focus on population health, such as school vaccination laws, are often quite controversial. This is because these laws often pit individual freedoms against the common good. In the case of school vaccination laws, the societal benefit of herd immunity comes at the cost of parents' individual freedom to object to vaccinating their children.
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Public health laws and policies apply many different kinds of strategies to achieve their goals. Let's examine some of the main strategies of public health law.
Strategy | Example |
---|---|
Taxation | Cigarette and alcohol taxes |
Altering the informational environment | Food and drug labeling laws |
Altering the built or physical environment | Zoning laws |
Altering the natural environment | Clean water and clean air laws |
Regulation | Seat belt laws |
Deregulation | Decriminalization of HIV risk behaviors |
Although these strategies are quite diverse, they each reflect the underlying goals of public health law: preventing disease and injury and promoting population health. Many public health laws and policies apply multiple strategies to achieve these goals. For example, smoking bans are a form of regulation that alters the physical environment.
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All right, let's take a moment or two to review. Public health law refers to any statute, rule, or ordinance that has the purpose of promoting or protecting the public health. Public health laws and policies have played a significant role in the major public health achievements of the last century.
There are two key characteristics that distinguish public health law from other areas of health law. The first is the prevention orientation. Public health law tends to focus more on issues related to disease and injury prevention than on issues related to disease treatment.
Public health law also has a distinct focus on population health, which is an approach to health that aims to improve the health of entire human populations. As a result, public health laws and policies are often intended to promote shared benefits for all or most members of a given community, known as the common good. This can sometimes lead to controversy when public health laws pit individual freedoms against the common good, such as with school vaccination laws.
Public health laws and policies apply many different kinds of strategies to achieve their goals. These strategies include:
- Taxation
- Altering the informational environment
- Altering the built or physical environment
- Altering the natural environment
- Regulation
- Deregulation
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