Evidence map›Paper›PMID 16283471›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of epidemiology2005

Kos, Dresden, Utopia... A journey through idealism past and present in public health.

Johan Mackenbach

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in European journal of epidemiology, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Theoretical models and operational frameworks in public health ethics.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2010
    Review
  3. Idealism and ethics of public-health practitioners.European journal of epidemiology · 2005
    Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Johan MackenbachDepartment of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000DR, The Netherlands. j.mackenbach@erasmusmc.nl

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This essay reviews some of the sources of idealism in public health, on the basis of an intellectual journey to Kos (home to Hippocrates and his altruistic legacy), Dresden (where the Deutsches Hygiene Museum illustrates the historical connections between fascism and public health), and Utopia (exemplified by Etienne Cabet's Icarie, a fantasy of an ideal city which has nevertheless been partly realized). It is suggested that the large-scale altruism of public health has to be balanced with the value of individual autonomy, and that some degree of dreaming of a better and healthier world is indispensable for further progress in public health. The main conclusion is that the ethical foundations of public health are not always self-evident, and that critical reflection on these foundations was, is, and will always be necessary.

Indexed as

AltruismEthics, ProfessionalPhilosophy, MedicalHumansPoliticsPublic Health PracticeSocial Responsibility

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.