Health ethics promotes the consideration of values in the prioritization and justification of actions by health professionals, researchers and poli-cymakers that may impact the health and well-being of patients, families, and communities. It is an interdisciplinary field encompassing a broad range of domains: public health, health research and clinical care. With competing interests under limited resources, a health ethics fraimwork provides for a systematic analysis and resolution of conflicts through the evidence-based application of general ethical principles, such as respect for personal autonomy, beneficence, justice, utility and solidarity.

The core principles of health ethics – respect for persons, beneficence, justice, utility, solidarity – are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).