Social justice and social responsibility: towards a value-base for global public health

Public health and social justice have been seen as one and the same thing, in that public health is - of its very nature - socially just. In this paper, the relationship between public health and social justice is explored through reflecting upon the definitions of the two. Work being undertaken in Scotland in relation to prison health shows that public health action can be intended to have a socially just consequence. However it is not always possible to show that social justice was always the intended outcome of a public health action, as economic intentions can often result in similar public health intervention. In seeking to set out a values base for Global Public Health, the reflection allows two overarching values to be proposed: equality and mutuality.