The emerging public health legislation in Ukraine

Abstract

As Ukraine has started the legal process for a public health legislation, this narrative review attempts to: i) characterize recent legal acts (which are current as well as drafts) and international standards in the sphere of public health; ii) analyze the definitions of public health legally relevant to Ukraine, in particular: public health and public health protection; iii) discuss related definitions relevant to the health sector; iv) characterize the main subjects tasked to protect public health; v) and clarify the necessary educational innovations, which are the basis in the preparation of human resources for an efficient implementation of the public health concept. After referring to the current legislative process and a discussion of some of the concepts and terminologies available in the literature, the following understanding of the terminology is proposed here: i) ‘Public Health’ should be understood as mental and physical health of the population in a certain territory, determined by the best achievable demographic indicators, characterized by decreasing morbidity and mortality and increasing the potential to lead an active and long life; ii) the term ‘Public Health Protection’ (or, ‘Protection of Public Health’) should address a system of measures which are aimed at prevention and control of morbidity, optimization of demographic indicators, promoting a value-oriented state policy, securing biological and genetic safety and relying on joint societal efforts. It is essential that the implementation of a public health law is underpinned by adapting the postgraduate educational system to the new challenges in Ukraine.