A Critique of Expertise for Health Law.

A health justice approach requires a progressive critique of expertise. This article considers two recent high-profile cases - the mask mandate and medication abortion -- to understand how we should think the mobilization of expertise in the context of public health law. Following from this, the article offers news ways to better understand how to think of the relationship between health law, expertise, and politics.

Where is the “Public” in American Public Health? Moving from individual responsibility to collective action

American individualism continues to prove incommensurate to the public health challenge of COVID-19. Where the previous US Administration silenced public health science, neglected rising inequalities, and undermined global solidarity in the early pandemic response, the Biden Administration has sought to take action to respond to the ongoing pandemic. However, the Administration's overwhelming focus on individual responsibility over population-level policy stands in sharp contrast to fundamental tenets of public health that emphasize “what we, as a society, do collectively to assure the conditions for people to be healthy”.

RACE, RISK, AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE RESPONSE TO COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has tragically revealed the depth of racial inequities in the United States. This Piece argues that the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on racial minorities is a symptom of a failing approach to public health, one that privileges individual behaviors over the structural conditions that generate vulnerability and inequitable health outcomes. Despite clear racial disparities in illness and deaths, the neoliberal ideology of personal responsibility shifts the onus for mitigation of risk away from the social and legal determinants of health and onto the individual. To understand how and why these disparate racial outcomes arise, this Piece offers an account of the theoretical frameworks that underpin the personal responsibility approach to public health and argues that it is necessary to foreground the social determinants of health in the response to the pandemic.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) Regarding the Prevention against COVID-19 Infection at the Outset of Outbreak in Pakistan Amongst Smart Phone Users

Background and Objective: At the outset of outbreak of Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) infection in Pakistan, there had been a lot of confusion regarding the preventive measures in general public. The objective of current study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding the home preventive measures against COVID-19 infection amongst smart phone users at the outset of outbreak in Pakistan. Methods: It was a cross-sectional online survey to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice amongst the smart phone users regarding the preventive measures against Corona infection. Total 388 questionnaires were submitted in one week in first week of April 2020. The data was collected through online questionnaire which were disseminated through WhatsApp groups. The completed questionnaires were compiled and analysed by using SPSS software version 21. Frequencies of responses were calculated. Results: A total of 196 (50.5%) participant were in the age category of 17-25 years with female predominance. Three hundred and 66 (94.3%) preferred washing hands with soap and water for 20 or more seconds, two thirds of the participants also agreed on the role of sanitizers. Only 159 (41%) knew what social distancing meant. Regarding the disinfection of eatable and non-eatable, almost half of the participants agreed to use soap and water. Considering the most effective disinfectant, 225 (43.8%) preferred Dettol. Surgical mask and N-95 masks were considered the effective ways to avoid droplet infections. Regarding the survival of the virus in different media, majority of the responses were completely ignorant. Conclusion: There are still gaps in knowledge, attitude and practices regarding prevention against Coronavirus infection at the outset of this out-break in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Biomedica is the property of Knowledge Bylanes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)