, ethics is concerned with a broader setof relationships and behaviours than most forms of legalregulation. For example, speaking disrespectfully to one’sparents may be considered unethical, even though it is notagainst the law. It is also possible that individual laws maythemselves violate important ethical principles, e.g. lawsthat discriminate against certain groups in a population.Ethical analysis of the law can stimulate important reformefforts or acts of civil disobedience.Even when ethics and law are consistent, important dif-ferences between the fields remain.

Values describe what is important to an individual,a group, or a society. Values that are commonly invokedinclude autonomy, fairness, equity, compassion, honesty,freedom, solidarity, trust and respect. Some of these valuesmight be specified as principles

Healthethics is the interdisciplinary field of study and practicethat seeks specifically to understand the values undergird-ing decisions and actions in health care, health researchand health policy, and to provide guidance for action whenthese values conflict

how well the data source meets the needs ofusers in terms of the concepts measured, and the populations represented. It is important toidentify the purpose of the data collection and determine if the data measures the conceptrequired by the user.

Figure 1: The AIHW’s 3-step process for assessing data sources for population health monitoring