From International to Regional Health Law: A West African Perspective

Abstract

The development of health law in Africa has usually been addressed within the context of human rights law in general and the right to health in particular. This has placed the State at the centre of the subject, as States bear the responsibility of recognising, promoting, and protecting the rights of individuals and communities, and it is from this perspective that the right to health in Africa – and elsewhere – has been developed. Consequently, questions of State capacity arise when considering the ability of States to meet the obligations relating to the right to health adequately. There is, therefore, an inextricable link between a State’s governance capacity and its obligations regarding the right to health – and health law. Therefore, the development of health law is tied to discussions about how governments undertake efforts to protect the health of their citizens, given the challenges and limitations they face. This article moves the discussion up a level, exploring the existence and nature of a West African Health Law. It, first of all, describes the origin and features of regional health law; then, it provides a brief history of the development of regional health governance in West Africa, from colonial times; and finally, it goes on to explore the existence of features of regional health law in the current West African landscape, under the auspices of the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) and its specialised institution for health. It identifies the main features of regional health law in West Africa as comprising: a rule-making function; the development of norms and standards of practice among states; and the establishment of a governance framework that promotes compliance and enforcement. In conclusion, the paper claims that the development of regional health law in West Africa has moved along a state-centric course and suggests that this might be responsible for some of the challenges in implementation.