Foundations of Global Health & Human Rights

Human rights are essential to global health, yet rising threats in an increasingly divided world are challenging the progressive evolution of health-related human rights. It is necessary to empower a new generation of scholars, advocates, and practitioners to sustain the global commitment to universal rights in public health. Looking to the next generation to face the struggles ahead, this book provides a detailed understanding of the evolving relationship between global health and human rights, laying a human rights foundation for the advancement of transformative health policies, programs, and practices.

International human rights law has been repeatedly shown to advance health and wellbeing - empowering communities and fostering accountability for realizing the highest attainable standard of health. This book provides a compelling examination of international human rights as essential for advancing public health. It demonstrates how human rights strengthens human autonomy and dignity, while placing clear responsibilities on government to safeguard the public's health and safety.

Bringing together leading academics in the field of health and human rights, this volume: (1) explains the norms and principles that define the field, (2) examines the methods and tools for implementing human rights to promote health, (3) applies essential human rights to leading public health threats, and (4) analyzes rising human rights challenges in a rapidly globalizing world. This foundational text shows why interdisciplinary scholarship and action are essential for health-related human rights, placing human rights at the center of public health and securing a future of global health with justice.

Lawrence O. Gostin is University Professor (Georgetown University's highest academic rank), Founding O'Neill Chair in Global Health Law, and Director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. Professor Gostin is the Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, and serves on expert WHO advisory committees. He is a Member of the National Academy of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences, Council on Foreign Relations, and Hastings Center.

Benjamin Mason Meier is an Associate Professor of Global Health Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Scholar at Georgetown Law School's O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, and a consultant to international organizations, national governments, and nongovernmental organizations. Dr. Meier's interdisciplinary research-at the intersection of global health, international law, and public policy-examines the development, evolution, and application of human rights in global health.