Culture, Context, and Epidemic Containment

This issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics considers how health professions should respond to global public health emergencies. Professional engagement with governments, nongovernmental organizations, or individuals reluctant to support epidemic responses is critical resistance to isolationist stances that can undermine disease containment efforts. Advocacy is another important expression of clinicians’ obligations to promote and protect international and domestic communities of patients, especially during crises. 

Volume 22, Number 1: E1-65 Full Issue PDF
  • From the Editor
    Jan 2020

    Responding to Global Public Health Crises

    Abraar Karan, MD, MPH, DTM&H
    Not only medicine, but anthropology and international relations are needed to respond to global public health crises.
    AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E3-4. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2020.3.
  • Case and Commentary
    Jan 2020

    How Should Clinicians Respond to International Public Health Emergencies?

    Abbey Lowe, MA, Angela Hewlett, MD, MS, and Toby Schonfeld, PhD
    Balancing need for global solidarity against local stakeholders’ safety concerns is one source of tension when trying to mitigate global risk.
    AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E16-21. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2020.16.
  • Medical Education
    Jan 2020

    Five Things Students and Clinicians Should Know About “Biocontainment”

    Helen Stanton Chapple, PhD, RN, MSN, MA
    Being close enough to patients to care is as critical as remaining distant enough from a pathogen to be safe. This strategy simultaneously frustrates and supports public trust.
    AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E22-27. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2020.22.
  • Health Law
    Jan 2020

    When Are Vaccine Mandates Appropriate?

    Carmel Shachar, JD, MPH and Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, LLB, PhD
    Legal approaches to preserving social stability, maintaining trust, supporting therapeutic research opportunities, or diminishing disease severity deserve ethical scrutiny.
    AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E36-42. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2020.36.
  • State of the Art and Science
    Jan 2020

    Making Emergency Use of Experimental Vaccines Safer

    Archana Asundi, MD and Nahid Bhadelia, MD
    How would gathering preclinical data and improving research infrastructure facilitate clearer definitions of “population vulnerability” and “risk acceptability”?
    AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E43-49. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2020.43.
  • Medicine and Society
    Jan 2020

    What Should Health Science Journalists Do in Epidemic Responses?

    Katherina Thomas and Alpha Daffae Senkpeni
    Journalists have long covered outbreaks of infectious disease and newsrooms have wielded their power both responsibly and irresponsibly.
    AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E55-60. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2020.55.
  • Art of Medicine
    Jan 2020

    Burnout

    Matt Heenan
    Multiple pieces of reclaimed pallet wood are sculpted into a lateral cerebrum and a gradient of burned wood visually represents a crisis among health care professionals.
    AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E61-62. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2020.61.
  • Art of Medicine
    Jan 2020

    Worlds Apart

    Tamera Means, MD, MHS
    Two photographs of caregivers walking through a Honduran jungle to visit patients in their homes literally and figuratively represent barriers to health care access.
    AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E63-65. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2020.63.