A Sensitive Period: Bioethics, Human Rights, and Child Development

The conceptual synergies arising from the integration of these fields are significant, although insufficiently explored, and are best seen through their application to specific health policy domains. ECD represents a particularly relevant case study: it is characterised as a rapidly evolving science whose normative implications are complex, emerging and under-researched, but whose societal implications are extensive. The article first outlines the disciplinary evolution of bioethics, showing its gradual social turn: from the individual to the collective, from medicine to society. It then examines points of theoretical convergence between bioethics and human rights to assess the value and feasibility of their joint application in health policy analysis. Only an ethical approach flexible enough to adapt to the questions that arise, to explore problems from different theoretical perspectives and to assimilate insights across traditional disciplinary boundaries will prove sufficient to the task.