Public health ethics and the Kerala Public Health Act, 2023

Abstract

This commentary looks at the Kerala Public Health Act (KPHA), passed on November 28, 2023, through the lens of public health ethics. While the Act recognises the importance of prevention and strengthening of social systems, it falters in the public health ethics and human rights framework, ignoring international public health principles such as the Siracusa Principles and guidelines for individual diseases such as tuberculosis. The Covid-19 pandemic in India itself offers ample learnings, which have been disregarded, on the need for caution against state overreach. Principles such as autonomy, privacy/confidentiality, transparency, accountability, rule of law, least harm etc have not even been given token consideration, making this law a potential tool of abuse, particularly against already vulnerable communities.