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Biomedical subjects

Solomon R Benatar

Publications and source records attributed to Solomon R Benatar.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Developing sustainability: a new metaphor for progress.

In this paper, we propose a new model for development, one that transcends the North-South dichotomy and goes beyond a narrow conception of development as an economic process. This model requires a paradigm shift toward a new metaphor that develops sustainability, rather than sustains development. We conclude by defending a 'report card on development' as a means for evaluating how countries perform within this new paradigm.

Commerce↗
PubMed2005

Meeting threats to global health: a call for American leadership.

Although the application of major biomedical advances has yielded spectacular results for individual health, there has been little improvement in the health of whole populations. There is a "back to the future" irony in the fact that at the inception of the 21st century, the eruption and spread of a multitude of "old" and "new" infectious diseases has become the most serious global threat to the health of humankind. At this historical juncture, the United States is the country with the most potential for favorably influencing global health and health care. Although there are historical, cultural, economic, and political factors that impede the United States from rising to this challenge, there is both a moral imperative and a rational long-term self-interest basis for the U.S. medical profession and government to exercise leadership in facing the health challenges of tragic and genocidal proportions that threaten everyone in an increasingly interdependent world.

Forecasting↗
PubMed2004

Critical reflections on evidence, ethics and effectiveness in the management of tuberculosis: public health and global perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Recent scholarly attention to public health ethics provides an opportunity to analyze several ethical issues raised by the global tuberculosis pandemic. DISCUSSION: Recently articulated frameworks for public health ethics emphasize the importance of effectiveness in the justification of public health action. This paper critically reviews the relationship between these frameworks and the published evidence of effectiveness of tuberculosis interventions, with a specific focus on the controversies engendered by the endorsement of programs of service delivery that emphasize direct observation of therapy. The role of global economic inequities in perpetuating the tuberculosis pandemic is also discussed. SUMMARY: Tuberculosis is a complex but well understood disease that raises important ethical challenges for emerging frameworks in public health ethics. The exact role of effectiveness as a criterion for judging the ethics of interventions needs greater discussion and analysis. Emerging frameworks are silent about the economic conditions contributing to the global burden of illness associated with tuberculosis and this requires remediation.

Behavior Control↗
PubMed2003

Bioethics: power and injustice: IAB presidential address.

A major focus within the modern bioethics debate has been on reshaping power relationships within the doctor-patient relationship. Empowerment of the vulnerable has been achieved through an emphasis on human rights and respect for individual dignity. However, power imbalances remain pervasive within healthcare. To a considerable extent this relates to insufficient attention to social injustice. Such power imbalances together with the development of new forms of power, for example through new genetic biotechnology, raise the spectre of increasing social injustice. Attention will be drawn to the need to extend the bioethics debate to include ethical considerations regarding public health. Changes in political philosophy will also be required to reshape international power relations and improve population health.

Bioethics↗
PubMed2002

Human rights in the biotechnology era 1.

BACKGOUND: The concept of Human Rights has become the modern civilising standard to which all should aspire and indeed attain. DISCUSSION: In an era characterised by widening disparities in health and human rights across the world and spectacular advances in biotechnology it is necessary to reflect on the extent to which human rights considerations are selectively applied for the benefit of the most privileged people. Attention is drawn particularly to sub-Saharan Africa as a marginalised region at risk of further marginalisation if the power associated with the new biotechnology is not used more wisely than power has been used in the past. To rectify such deficiencies it is proposed that the moral agenda should be broadened and at the very least the concept of rights should be more closely integrated with duties SUMMARY: New forms of power being unleashed by biotechnology will have to be harnessed and used with greater wisdom than power has been used in the past. Widening disparities in the world are unlikely to be diminished merely by appealing to human rights. We recommend that a deeper understanding is required of the underlying causes of such disparities and that the moral discourse should be extended beyond human rights language.

Journal Article↗