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. 2007 Aug;33(8):444-5.
doi: 10.1136/jme.2006.017574.

Responsibility for health: personal, social, and environmental

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Responsibility for health: personal, social, and environmental

D B Resnik. J Med Ethics. 2007 Aug.

Abstract

Most of the discussion in bioethics and health policy concerning social responsibility for health has focused on society's obligation to provide access to healthcare. While ensuring access to healthcare is an important social responsibility, societies can promote health in many other ways, such as through sanitation, pollution control, food and drug safety, health education, disease surveillance, urban planning and occupational health. Greater attention should be paid to strategies for health promotion other than access to healthcare, such as environmental and public health and health research.

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Competing interests: none declared.

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