Ethical and humanitarian considerations in allocating healthcare resources during infectious disease emergencies: A scoping review

BACKGROUND: Infectious diseases can lead to emergencies, posing ethical and humanitarian challenges in allocating basic minimum and specialised healthcare resources. This study aims to investigate the ethical and humanitarian considerations in allocating healthcare resources during infectious disease-related healthcare emergencies. METHODS: This research employed a scoping review approach following Arksey and O'Malley's framework. Keywords related to the research topic were searched for in medical subject headings, including PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, Embase, and Web of Science, covering the period from 1992 to 2023. RESULTS: Out of 4,013 articles, 13 relevant articles were extracted for final review. Findings reveal a limited application of humanitarian principles, with ethical principles like equity and justice dominating hospital-level decisions. Equity was defined under the ethics theme, and achieving equity can be considered the central theme of the framework of humanitarian principles. Humanitarian principles guide aid in crises; but ethical principles shape broader human conduct. Also, there is a significant relationship between ethics and humanitarian principles. CONCLUSION: This study emphasises the need to integrate humanitarian and ethical principles into resource allocation to ensure their effective implementation in healthcfare delivery, particularly during infectious disease outbreaks, to prevent discrimination and injustice. Additionally, establishing practical criteria aligned with humanitarian principles is essential for equitable resource distribution in pandemics.