ABSTRACT
Emerging ethical issues have prompted Western countries to focus more attention on public health ethics in medical education. To assess the current and future states of public health ethics education in Japan, we analyzed the opinions of public health educators in Japanese medical institutions and explored potential topics for public health ethics curriculums. 1) We mailed self-administered questionnaires to 201 hygiene and public health departments to inquire about their current curriculums and the state of public health ethics education at their institutions. 2) Of the 101 responding institutions, 60.4% were spending 8% of teaching hours on lectures related to ethical issues in public health. 3) Most institutions agreed with a proposal to require the completion of a public health ethics course in medical education programs. 4) Among the major topics chosen to be included in the potential course were ethical issues surrounding public health policy and medical research.