The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #41370

Evelyn Shuster, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 215 823-4206, evelyn.shuster@med.va.gov

Since the founding of the country, public health has been primarily the business of the states. This means that the state has the authority to protect the health and safety of their citizens, commonly referred to as state's "police powers." The decades-old AIDS pandemic and the prospect of bioterrorism have caused a progressive transformation of public health activity from state level to international and national level. This transformation has the potential for shifting the locus of authority over public health to international and national organizations. In the case of AIDS, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS have assumed a larger role, if not leadership, to help contain an epidemic that is currently destroying the whole African continent. In bioterrorism, the federal government has taken charge of public health defense and suggested action to prevent and respond to bioterrorist threats or attacks. We must address the following questions: What does this transformation mean for public health? What should public health's response be? How strong should we want the link to be between public health, the law enforcement and the defense department?

Learning Objectives: The goals are

• to assess the propriety of using war metaphors or categories in the AIDS pandemic and bioterrorism;
• to demonstrate why categories matter;
• to assess the impact on public health caused by our "war responses" to the AIDS crisis and to bioterrorism;
• to determine how plublic health could be affected by these two crises; and
• to discuss options for public health authority.

Keywords: Bioethics, Human Rights

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.