scholarly journals ‘Choking the national demos’: research partnerships and the material constitution of global health

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-127
Author(s):  
John Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Functional Health ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
World Health ◽  
Moral Principle ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Health Law ◽  
The World

By foregrounding a widened view of the rule of law in transnational legal processes, the works under discussion in this symposium can support innovative critical perspectives on global health law –a field that has gained wide attention due to the spread of COVID-19 around the world (Lander, 2020; Bhatt, 2020). Legal and socio-legal scholars in the decade and a half before the pandemic worked on locating global health law and articulating its underlying principles. Lawrence Gostin's 2014 monograph offers a synoptic view centred on international institutions (e.g. the World Health Organization, World Trade Organization, UN Human Rights Council) and problems (e.g. infectious-disease response, tobacco control), along with an elaboration of its normative basis in universal moral principle and international human rights law (Gostin, 2014). Struggles over access to essential medicines and intellectual property in the early 2000s are, for example, represented in terms of the right to health constraining international trade law. Andreas Fischer-Lescano and Guenther Teubner's 2004 reading is oriented more by social theory than by doctrinal or ethical frames (Fischer-Lescano and Teubner, 2004, pp. 1006, 1008). A functional health regime has ‘differentiated out’, they observe, and operates as a discrete communication system across borders, albeit one that is threatened by the preponderant economic system. On this model, the battle for access to medicines amounts to ensuring, via human rights guarantees, that the rationality of the health system is not replaced by that of its economic rival in legal and policy communications (Fischer-Lescano and Teubner, 2004, pp. 1030, 1046).

scholarly journals Essential but expensive? The World Health Organization, access to medicines and human rights

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-156
Author(s):  
Keith Syrett
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
World Health ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The World ◽  
International Human ◽  
Health Organization

Now widely accepted as a component of the international human rights framework, the concept of access to medicines nonetheless continues to generate controversial questions as to its scope and application. Through critical analysis of relevant documentary materials, this article seeks to explore the conjunction between human rights and the list of essential medicines compiled biennially by the World Health Organization in the particular context of the recent expansion of this list to embrace a number of very costly medical interventions. Such extension is intended to stimulate access in the long run, but the expense of such medicines may limit accessibility in the short term, as governments struggling to ensure the sustainability of health systems choose to allocate finite resources elsewhere. This article therefore examines the compatibility of limitations to access on grounds of unaffordability, with international human rights obligations. It focuses especially upon Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights but also considers other human rights which may be engaged.

Human Rights Responsibilities of Pharmaceutical Companies in Relation to Access to Medicines

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joo-Young Lee ◽  
Paul Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Access To Essential Medicines ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Right

The Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) affirms that “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights lays the foundations for the international framework for the right to health. This human right is now codified in numerous national constitutions, as well as legally binding international human rights treaties, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.Although medical care and access to medicines are vital features of the right to health, almost two billion people lack access to essential medicines, leading to immense avoidable suffering. Improving access to essential medicines could save 10 million lives each year, four million of them in Africa and South-East Asia alone. Gross inequity is a shocking feature of the world pharmaceutical situation.

Social Entrepreneurship

2020 ◽  
pp. 185-235
Author(s):  
Peter Hägel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Communicable Diseases ◽  
World Health ◽  
Vaccination Programs ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Bill Gates ◽  
Gates Foundation

Chapter 7 examines two cases of how billionaires use philanthropy to promote social change in foreign countries. Through the massive funding of research and public–private partnerships, Bill Gates, via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has advanced international vaccination programs to fight communicable diseases. His influence on agenda-setting and policy implementation in the governance of global health can be seen in the World Health Organization’s declaration of a “Decade of Vaccines.” The second case is George Soros, whose attempts to build open societies as a “stateless statesman” are extremely wide-ranging. The chapter focuses on his efforts to promote human rights and democracy, putting the spotlight on his role in regime change during the so-called “Rose Revolution” in Georgia (2002–4).

International Health Regulations and Transmissible Diseases

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-102
Author(s):  
Anika Klafki
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Global Health ◽  
International Health ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Law ◽  
International Health Regulations ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Health Regulations

The world is increasingly vulnerable to infectious diseases. Although the fundamental reform of the International Health Regulations (IHR) in 2005 was heralded as the beginning of a new era of international health law, the Ebola outbreak 2014 shattered all hopes that the world would now be adequately equipped for epidemic outbreaks of transmissible diseases. The Ebola crisis is perceived as an epic failure on the part of the World Health Organization (WHO). The many dead are a sad testimony to the world's inability to adequately respond to the threat posed by contagions. In reaction to this defeat, policymakers now focus on hands-on initiatives to foster global health instead of reformulating international health law. So far, extensive investments and innovations within the WHO, the United Nations system, and in the private sector have multiplied rapidly. The mushrooming of various health initiatives, however, increases the complexity and reduces the consistency of the current global health landscape. The leadership role of the WHO needs to be restored to provide a coherent response for the next global scale public health emergency. To this end, a fundamental reform of the presently widely neglected international regulatory framework in the field of public law, the IHR, is of vital importance. Keywords: World Health Organization, International Health Regulations, Infectious Diseases, Ebola, Influenza, Public Health, Public Health Emergency

s.One Norms and Principles, 2 Global Health Law: Legal Foundations for Social Justice in Public Health

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gostin Lawrence O ◽  
Sirleaf Matiangai V S ◽  
Friedman Eric A
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Global Health ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Health Law ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Legal Foundations

This chapter provides an understanding of the legal foundations of human rights, examining human rights under international law as a basis for social justice in public health. International human rights law has codified the rights first enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), evolving through the politics of the Cold War to develop the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). This seminal covenant and the international treaties that derived from it have framed the legal foundations of the human right to health and the evolution of health-related human rights. Yet, where challenges remain in responding to the health needs of a globalizing world, scholars and advocates have looked to a shift from international health law to global health law, facilitating collaboration between state and nonstate actors in an expanding global health policy landscape.

s.Two Implementation and Accountability, 9 Advancing Human Rights through Global Health Governance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meier Benjamin Mason ◽  
Cinà Margherita Marianna ◽  
Gostin Lawrence O
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Global Health ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Determinants ◽  
Global Health Governance ◽  
Health Governance ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

This chapter addresses the international organizations that have accepted human rights obligations as a way of framing their global health policies, programs, and practices. International organizations within the United Nations (UN) system are engaged in implementing human rights—in both the mission they carry out and the way in which they carry out that mission. The UN has called on all programs, funds, and specialized agencies to mainstream human rights across their efforts, and various agencies have taken up this call to advance human rights for public health – beginning with the evolving role of the World Health Organization and expanding to encompass a sweeping set of international organizations that address health determinants. While there remain obstacles to the systematic operationalization of human rights across the global health governance landscape, international organizations are seeking to integrate their efforts to mainstream human rights in global health.

Global Health Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-66
Author(s):  
Lawrence O. Gostin ◽  
Matiangai V. S. Sirleaf ◽  
Eric A. Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Global Health ◽  
International Health ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Health Law ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Globalizing World ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Legal Foundations

This chapter provides an understanding of the legal foundations of human rights, examining human rights under international law as a basis for social justice in public health. International human rights law has codified the rights first enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), evolving through the politics of the Cold War to develop the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). This seminal covenant and the international treaties that derived from it have framed the legal foundations of the human right to health and the evolution of health-related human rights. Yet, where challenges remain in responding to the health needs of a globalizing world, scholars and advocates have looked to a shift from international health law to global health law, facilitating collaboration between state and nonstate actors in an expanding global health policy landscape.

Advancing Human Rights through Global Health Governance

2020 ◽  
pp. 197-218
Author(s):  
Benjamin Mason Meier ◽  
Margherita Marianna Cinà ◽  
Lawrence O. Gostin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Global Health ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Determinants ◽  
Global Health Governance ◽  
Health Governance ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

This chapter addresses the international organizations that have accepted human rights obligations as a way of framing their global health policies, programs, and practices. International organizations within the United Nations (UN) system are engaged in implementing human rights—in both the mission they carry out and the way in which they carry out that mission. The UN has called on all programs, funds, and specialized agencies to mainstream human rights across their efforts, and various agencies have taken up this call to advance human rights for public health – beginning with the evolving role of the World Health Organization and expanding to encompass a sweeping set of international organizations that address health determinants. While there remain obstacles to the systematic operationalization of human rights across the global health governance landscape, international organizations are seeking to integrate their efforts to mainstream human rights in global health.

scholarly journals The World Health Organization in Global Health Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 796-799
Author(s):  
Benjamin Mason Meier ◽  
Allyn Taylor ◽  
Mark Eccleston-Turner ◽  
Roojin Habibi ◽  
Sharifah Sekalala ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization
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