Exploring synergies between human rights and public health ethics: A whole greater than the sum of its parts

We argue that public health ethics can contribute to human rights by: (a) reinforcing the normative claims of international human rights law, (b) strengthening advocacy for human rights, and (c) bridging the divide between public health practitioners and human rights advocates in certain contemporary health domains. We then discuss how human rights can contribute to public health ethics by contributing to discourses on the determinants of health through: (a) definitions of the right to health and the notion of the indivisibility of rights, (b) emphasis on the duties of states to progressively realize the health of citizens, and (c) recognition of the protection of human rights as itself a determinant of health. We also discuss the role that human rights can play for the emergent field of public health ethics by refocusing attention on the health and illness on marginalized individuals and populations.Actors within the fields of public health, ethics and human rights can gain analytic tools by embracing the untapped potential for collaboration inherent in such a combined approach.The fields of human rights and public health ethics each offer frameworks that may inform normative health issues. To date, however, little has been written about the contribution that these two justificatory frameworks can make together. This article explores how a combined approach may offer a more comprehensive analysis of normative issues related to health than either approach made alone.This discussion is timely given the range of profound health-related concerns facing both public health ethics and human rights. The wide and, in some cases, growing disparities in health and wealth both within and between countries present a formidable challenge to both fields. Health challenges facing the global poor are daunting, including: infectious disease pandemics, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; rising levels of non-communicable disease; and, limited access to adequate health care fa