Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, while whole health is defined as the “physical, behavioral, spiritual, and socioeconomic well-being of individuals, families, and communities”. To achieve this, whole healthcare becomes an inter-professional, team-based approach anchored in trusted longitudinal relationships to promote resilience, prevent disease, and restore health. Public Health is an umbrella term under which we usually include two main pillars; namely prevention and healthcare services. Public health is the art and science of incorporating all evidence-based organized efforts of the society aiming to protect and promote health, prevent disease, prolong life and improve quality of life of the population as a whole. Public health is a contested field combining theory and practice and leading to important challenges with respect to the principles of Public Health, namely the general rules and guidelines guiding public health practice. However, public health cannot be appreciated without its values serving as a driving force in policy making and ethical decision-making. There is no common ground on universally recognized values of public health around the world. Nevertheless most public health professionals agree on a set of such values (justice, respect, beneficence, non-maleficence) and principles of practice (accessible, effective, participatory) that pave the pathway of a successful realization. Both public health values and principles were put under tremendous pressure during the pandemic and questions remain as to whether these have been significantly impacted in the end. In this talk we will review a number of values and principles of public health through the lenses of the recent pandemic.

Dr. Soteriades is an Occupational Medicine Physician by training and an Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health. He has completed his doctoral degree at the age of 35 years from Harvard University, T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the field of Environmental and Occupational Health. He is now serving as the academic coordinator of Healthcare Management Program at the Open University of Cyprus. He has published more than 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed international journals and has received more than 7,000 international citations.