Law Commons^™

When Does A Major Outbreak Become A Public Health Emergency Of International Concern?, David N. Durrheim, Lawrence O. Gostin, Keymanthri Moodley

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The process of determining whether a Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEIC) exists and should be declared has drawn increasing criticism over the past few years with allegations that it is more political than technical. Delaying declaration, where appropriate, means that the opportunity of garnering international solidarity and necessary resources in the early phases of epidemics, when public health measures may be more effective, is lost. A reform agenda aimed at enhancing WHO/Emergency Committee transparency and objectivity for the PHEIC declaration process is required.

Fighting Novel Diseases Amidst Humanitarian Crises, Lawrence O. Gostin, Neil R. Sircar, Eric A. Friedman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Humanitarian crises are becoming more prevalent and, frequently, more complex, in zones of mis-governance, lack of government presence, and even active conflict, marked by public mistrust and insecurity. The WHO and other health emergency responders lack the capacities and mandate to adequately respond. The current Ebola outbreak in an area of an active insurgency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is just such a crisis. The State Department has banned U.S. personnel from the outbreak zone due to safety concerns, leaving the population feeling abandoned, potentially increasing the threat to the few brave health workers who remain.

We need …

Legal Capacities Required For Prevention And Control Of Noncommunicable Diseases, Roger S. Magnusson, Benn Mcgrady, Lawrence O. Gostin, David Patterson, Hala Abou Taleb

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Law lies at the centre of successful national strategies for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. By law we mean international agreements, national and subnational legislation, regulations and other executive instruments, and decisions of courts and tribunals. However, the vital role of law in global health development is often poorly understood, and eclipsed by other disciplines such as medicine, public health and economics. This paper identifies key areas of intersection between law and noncommunicable diseases, beginning with the role of law as a tool for implementing policies for prevention and control of leading risk factors. We identify actions that the …

Bridging International Law And Rights-Based Litigation: Mapping Health-Related Rights Through The Development Of The Global Health And Human Rights Database, Benjamin Mason Meier, Oscar A. Cabrera, Ana Ayala, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, the World Health Organization, and the Lawyers Collective have come together to develop a searchable Global Health and Human Rights Database that maps the intersection of health and human rights in judgments, international and regional instruments, and national constitutions. Where states long remained unaccountable for violations of health-related human rights, litigation has arisen as a central mechanism in an expanding movement to create rights-based accountability. Facilitated by the incorporation of international human rights standards in national law, this judicial enforcement has supported the implementation of rights-based claims, giving …

National And Global Responsibilities For Health, Lawrence O. Gostin, Mark Heywood, Gorik Ooms, Anand Grover, John-Arne Røttingen, Wang Chenguang

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Preventable and treatable injuries and diseases are overwhelming sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and other impoverished areas of the world. Why are health outcomes among the world’s poor so dire after the first decade of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and despite a quadrupling of international health assistance over the past two decades? We believe that this dynamic can change by establishing clearer understandings of, and forging consensus around and governance structures to support, national and global responsibilities to improve global health.

With the goal of a new post-MDG global health paradigm, we are establishing the Joint Action and Learning …

The Joint Action And Learning Initiative On National And Global Responsibilities For Health, Lawrence O. Gostin, Gorik Ooms, Mark Heywood, Just Haffeld, Sigrun Møgedal, John-Arne Røttingen, Eric A. Friedman, Harald Siem

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A population’s health and wellbeing is primarily a national responsibility. Every state owes all of its inhabitants a comprehensive package of essential health goods and services under its obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the human right to health. Yet health is also a global responsibility. Every state has a duty to ensure a safe and healthy world, with particular attention to the needs of the world’s poorest people. Improving health and reducing unconscionable health inequalities is both an international obligation under the human right to health and a matter of global social justice.

The mutual obligations of states to …

Influenza A(H1n1) And Pandemic Preparedness Under The Rule Of International Law, Lawrence O. Gostin

O'Neill Institute Papers

A novel strain of Influenza A (H1N1) spread rapidly through Mexico in April 2009 and now spans the globe. By the time WHO was notified and responded, geographical containment was not feasible, leading the agency to call for mitigation. The international outbreak of SARS in 2003 and the more recent Influenza A (H5N1) among birds with limited transmission to humans helped prepare the world for the current pandemic threat. SARS galvanized the WHO to revise the antiquated International Health Regulations (IHR) in 2005, which took effect June 15, 2007. Governments instituted preparedness plans in response to avian influenza.

Despite increased …

Meeting Basic Survival Needs Of The World's Least Healthy People: Toward A Framework Convention On Global Health, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Lectures and Appearances

This article searches for solutions to the most perplexing problems in global health - problems so important that they affect the fate of millions of people, with economic, political, and security ramifications for the world's population. There are a variety of solutions scholars propose to improve global health and close the yawning health gap between rich and poor: global health is in the national interests of the major State powers; States owe an ethical duty to act; or international legal norms require effective action. However, arguments based on national interest, ethics, or international law have logical weaknesses. The coincidence of …

From A Civil Libertarian To A Sanitarian: “A Life Of Learning”, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Lectures and Appearances

I left Harvard 15 years ago to come to Georgetown University, formed in the year of our Constitution and established by an Act of Congress. More than Oxford or Harvard, Georgetown embodied my highest ideals of using world-class scholarship to serve the needs of the most disadvantaged. The Jesuit mission of social justice, which permeates our scholarship and teaching, has deep meaning to me. And the Jesuit ideal of “the human being fully alive,” resonates with my view of the salient importance of human health and wellbeing. The ideals of equity and human fulfilment are embodied in the inscription on …