Four-step impact assessment

Mann was a central advocate of combining the synergistic forces of public health, ethics and human rights.

[1] In his work, Mann proposed a three-pronged approach that has appropriately acted as a fundamental explanation of the relationship between health and human rights.

[4] With this framework, Mann attempted to bridge a perceived gap of philosophies, correspondence and vocabulary, education and training, recruitment, and work methods between the disciplines of bioethics, jurisprudence, public health law and epidemiology.

Furthermore, Mann knew that the history of “conflictual relationships” between officials of public health and civil liberties workers presented challenges to the pursuit of what he called a “powerful” confluence of health and human rights – a positive approach.4 While conflict between disciplines exists, Mann thought it important to first raise awareness of these challenges.

In the spirit of negotiation and acting as mediator, Mann pointed out that such an intersection of fields can only benefit if a common ground in philosophies is uncovered and planted with a flag of cooperation.