Promoting Social Justice Through Education in Public Health

Abstract

Abstract This chapter explores how to promote social justice through education programs for students in schools of public health, medical school departments of community and preventive medicine, and elsewhere. It also examines how education can equip public health practitioners, researchers, and educators with a social justice perspective that will guide their future work. Two major developments provide crucial information and values for developing and implementing social justice curricula: human rights law and progress in developing analyses of the social determinants of health. This chapter covers principles of social justice, the integration of human rights with public health, and a historical context for the evolution of related developments. The chapter describes examples of the introduction of social justice into public health curricula. The chapter concludes with an agenda for action. A text box contains the International Declaration of Health Rights. A second text box describes the Simmons Master of Public Health in Health Equity program.