Public Health Ethics Consultative Group
The establishment of the Public Health Ethics Consultative Group and Ethics Consultation Service in 2015 reflects the Organization's recognition of the importance of ethics in all of its work, with a special focus on public health interventions.

WHO's central role in promoting public health in its Member States, and its core function to develop and promote ethical, evidence- and human-rights-based guidance for the development of health policies, programmes and services, places ethics at the heart of its work. There is an expectation that the Organization ensures that all of its research and public health interventions are founded upon a robust ethical framework. The establishment of the Public Health Ethics Consultative Group and Ethics Consultation Service in 2015 reflects the Organization's recognition of the importance of ethics in all of its work, with a special focus on public health interventions.

Purpose

The purpose of the Public Health Ethics Consultative Group and Ethics Consultation Service is to offer WHO staff members a voluntary, non-binding ethics review mechanism for non-research, public health interventions.

Secretariat

The Global Health Ethics Unit hosts the Secretariat of the ECS. Its function is to build the Group's capacity and provide administrative support for the review of public health projects. The Secretariat coordinates consultations, provides professional development activities for members, and acts as a liaison between the Group and external experts.

Publications

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Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) are a major contributor to global morbidity and mortality and have a disproportionate impact on the world’s poorest...

Ethical considerations to guide the use of digital proximity tracking technologies for COVID-19 contact tracing

Digital proximity tracking technologies have been identified as a potential tool to support contact tracing for COVID-19. However, these technologies raise...

Ethics guidance for the implementation of the end TB strategy

The World Health Organization End TB Strategy is fully aligned with the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Both require due...

WHO guidelines on ethical issues in public health surveillance

The WHO Guidelines on Ethical Issues in Public Health Surveillance is the first international framework of its kind, it fills an important gap....