Making the public protect public health: the ethics of promoting collective action in emergencies

Effective public health responses to many infectious diseases require sustained collective action. Communicable disease control in populations can only be achieved by high levels of public compliance with health directives. However, governing authorities have limited options if public compliance is insufficient and collective action is failing. Mechanisms to promote public compliance occur on a spectrum from providing public health advice, offering incentives so people cooperate more, to enactin

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ethics.ai (1 July 2026), “Making the public protect public health: the ethics of promoting collective action in emergencies,” evidence record 2305, https://ethics.ai/record/2305 (originally published by Journal of Medical Ethics (BMJ)).

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