Date of Award

January 2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health (MPH)

Department

School of Public Health

First Advisor

Kaveh Khoshnood

Second Advisor

Kristina Talbert-Slagle

Abstract

Despite increasing ethical challenges in humanitarian crises, most Master of Public Health (MPH) programs offer limited, focused ethics training. Humanitarian emergencies, including armed conflict, mass displacement, pandemics, and climate-related disasters, challenge traditional ethical frameworks, exposing gaps in law, codes of conduct, and philosophical models. This thesis proposes a 13-week graduate course that integrates public health, international humanitarian law, field-based humanitarian practice, research methodology, and moral philosophy to equipe future public health leaders with ethical decision-making processes and skills to navigate complex dilemmas. Through critical engagement with scholarly literature, case studies (Ebola vaccine trials, refugee-camp research), simulations, and guest-speaker dialogues, students will learn about balancing impartiality, “do no harm,” and justice, even under duress. The curriculum promotes decolonial perspectives, interdisciplinary synthesis, innovative models and context-sensitive ethical reasoning. By doing so, it contributes to the advancement of humanitarian ethics as both a pedagogical priority and a dynamic framework for responsible research and practice.

Comments

This is an Open Access Thesis.

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