Proportionality: A Guiding Principle in Public Health Law, Ethics, and Policy

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During crises, such as pandemics or environmental disasters, governments must act swiftly to prevent disease and death, often with incomplete information. The principle of proportionality serves as the established legal and ethical standard for navigating this balance. However, during times of severe crisis and uncertainty, determining the proportionality of public health actions is extremely complex, particularly when decisions are made without conclusive evidence or uniformly applicable international standards.

In Proportionality, Nikola Biller-Andorno, Julian W. März, Corine Mouton-Dorey, and Stéphanie Dagron bring together 49 scholars and practitioners from around the world to explore how proportionality can guide and shape decision-making under crisis conditions. As they argue, a fundamental challenge in this domain is reconciling the obligation to foster population health through disease prevention, detection, and intervention with the imperative to respect and protect individual rights, including autonomy and privacy. Thus, the chapters in this volume highlight the principle and the process of proportionality, in order to guide decision-making and apply proportionate measures in the face of future public health crises, whether infectious, ecological, or linked to armed conflict. This volume not only develops the key concept of proportionality from the perspectives of law, human rights, philosophy, public health ethics, and political science, but it also looks at specific proportionality issues, such as freedom of movement, gender equity, children's rights and disease prevention.

Examining how governments and health authorities navigate the delicate balance between protecting public health and safeguarding individual rights in times of crisis, Proportionality provides a comprehensive analysis on the topic. Further, it aims to guide the development of public health policies that are effective, equitable, and respectful of human rights.