public health ethics is a field that covers both factual and ethical issues in health policy and science, and has positive obligations to improve the well-being of populations and reduce social inequalities. it is obvious that various philosophies and moral theories can differently shape the framework of public health ethics. for this reason, the present study reviewed theories of justice in or...

Social research was, until recently, not very important in the transport and mobility domain. There was a bias towards technical studies, engineering studies and towards transport economics. Social science was essentially a fringe activity; psychology was used in traffic management, under the name ‘‘human factors’’, and human geography focussed on the relationship between the characteristics of...

Gender equity is easily supported in theory but harder to pursue in practice. In this article, the case of Zika travel policies is used to illustrate some glaring gaps related to gender, for both men and women, at both international and national levels. Zika travel policies have not considered new evidence on biological or social determinants of health, putting babies at risk of exposure. The a...

China’s social welfare reform since the mid-1980s has been characterized as incremental and fragmented in three dimensions—social insurance, privatization, and targeting. This paper attempts to explore the micro-foundation of China’s urban social welfare reform by examining the diverse social welfare preferences and the cleavages among societal groups. It argues that the diversity of the societ...

SIR Your editorial in the March 1992 issue (1), is in my opinion something of a landmark and a positive, favourable one in the history of scholarly communication. In effect, you are urging the medical research community to take seriously a paper that leading peer review authorities rejected (for one reason or another) for publication. The peer review authority rejection might be characterised a...

The present paper outlines and analyzes Australia’s welfare reform policies as they have been implemented over the past decade. While there have been numerous social policy initiatives over this period, welfare reform provides an interesting site for analysis and review. This suite of policies and programs is of particular importance from several standpoints. First, its target groups – those ne...

BACKGROUND There is a significant body of evidence that highlights the importance of addressing the social determinants of child and youth health. In order to tackle health inequities Australian governments are being called upon to take action in this area at a policy level. Recent research suggests that the health and well-being of children and youth in Australia is 'middle of the road' when c...

Quebec has a distinctive character among the Canadian provinces not only because of its majority French-speaking population, its culture, its social democratic values, and its institutions, but also because of the flamboyant style of its public policies and legislation. The article by Bernier in the last issue of the Journal stresses this distinctive character as applied to public health and he...