Abstract
BackgroundIn recent years, there have been numerous calls for global institutions to develop and enforce new international laws. International laws are, however, often blunt instruments with many uncertain benefits, costs, risks of harm, and trade-offs. Thus, they are probably not always appropriate solutions to global health challenges. Given these uncertainties and international law’s potential importance for improving global health, the paucity of synthesized evidence addressing whether international laws achieve their intended effects or whether they are superior in comparison to other approaches is problematic.MethodsTen electronic bibliographic databases were searched using predefined search strategies, including MEDLINE, Global Health, CINAHL, Applied Social Sciences Index and s, Dissertations and Theses, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, International Political Science s, Social Sciences s, Social Sciences Citation Index, PAIS International, and Worldwide Political Science s. Two reviewers will independently screen titles and abstracts using predefined inclusion criteria. Pairs of reviewers will then independently screen the full-text of articles for inclusion using predefined inclusion criteria and then independently extract data and assess risk of bias for included studies. Where feasible, results will be pooled through subgroup analyses, meta-analyses, and meta-regression techniques.DiscussionThe findings of this review will contribute to a better understanding of the expected benefits and possible harms of using international law to address different kinds of problems, thereby providing important evidence-informed guidance on when and how it can be effectively introduced and implemented by countries and global institutions.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42015019830Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13643-016-0238-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
IntroductionInternational laws are, often blunt instruments with many uncertain benefits, costs, risks of harm, and trade-offs
In recent years, there have been numerous calls for global institutions to develop and enforce new international laws
Few international laws have been adopted to promote human health, many international laws have possible indirect effects on health, as they may impact the social determinants of health
Summary
International laws are, often blunt instruments with many uncertain benefits, costs, risks of harm, and trade-offs They are probably not always appropriate solutions to global health challenges. There have been numerous calls for global institutions to develop and enforce new international laws in the realm of health. These international laws, which regulate relations between and within countries, vary widely in their subject matter. One prominent example of such an international law is the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on TradeRelated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) This law serves as the de facto global regulating policy for all forms of intellectual property, including copyrights, patents, and trademarks. The rules set out by this agreement have major implications for the medical product industry and thereby influence global access to medicines [23, 24]
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