Abstract: In the context of the national public health reform, education in public health ethics should become one of the important pillars of the disease prevention and control system. Ethics education in public health can cultivate people's moral characters, responsibilities and ethical decision-making competences, and ensure the rational design and implementation of the disease prevention and control system, to deal with the ethical dilemma in the public health practice. Ethics education in public health should be extended from the training of medical and health personnel to the cultivation of citizen health literacy, with different educational goals for the different groups. However, there still exist some practical challenges from the external education environment and the internal research insufficient in public health ethics.

Key words: public health ethics,  ethics education,  public health, disease prevention and control