This book is about public health, and the imperatives and responsibilities we might associate with the protection of health. These issues are of central importance in policy, practice, education, and research. They raise and would address a whole range of concerns, whose number and urgency are growing exponentially: for example, how governments should respond to alcohol and tobacco use, the obesity ‘epidemics’, and the need to care for members of an aging population; whether people should ensure that they eat ‘healthy foods’, exercise frequently, and contribute to ‘herd immunity’ by participating in vaccination programmes; why employers should safeguard the health of their staff, why industry should ‘educate’ consumers about the potential health effects of certain products, and why sports events should not promote or advertise ‘unhealthy brands’. To come to useful conclusions from moral, legal, and political perspectives, the crucial task is to establish whether any of such matters are shared concerns, and if so, why, or if not, why not. In other words, anyone concerned about health, and about whether, when, how, and why it gives rise to meaningful responsibilities, needs to address the question what makes health public?

The significance of exploring this question should not be underestimated. Across the globe, public health is central to major debates in ethics, law, and politics. It has an increasing presence in the academic literature, in university teaching, and for policy, regulatory, and governmental bodies. Greater and greater attention is focused on the good of health, and the ethics relating to public health. Concern is not limited to (public) healthcare systems: the entire social and physical environments are the context of contemporary analysis of ‘health law and ethics’. Governments and analysts are concerned with the social determinants of health, and the attendant links to practical health- related responsibilities. There has been much consideration of questions such as the regulation of tobacco, alcohol, and food; resource allocation, especially within healthcare; containment and control of contagious diseases; bioterrorism; and climate change. All of these, and many other issues, are portrayed as public health problems, demanding public health solutions.