Public Health and International Law: the Impact of Infectious Diseases on the Formation of International Legal Regimes, 1800–2000

Abstract

Prior to the 1990s, the role of international law in efforts by states to control and prevent infectious diseases has not been frequently analysed by international lawyers or international relations scholars. International lawyers and international relations specialists historically generated a persistent lack of interest in public health issues. This historical scholarly neglect of the intersections between infectious diseases and international law is still curious given how much international law on infectious diseases has been developed from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. Fortunately, the last decade has seen growing international relations and international legal interest in international public health issues generally and the global problems posed by infectious diseases specifically (Taylor 1992; Fidler 1996; Taylor 1997; Plotkin and Kimball 1997; Fidler 1997a; Fidler 1997b; Fidler 1997c; Fluss 1997; Zacher 1999; Fidler 1999a). This chapter provides a small glimpse of the many and complex aspects of the relationship between international law and infectious diseases. I briefly present a number of international legal regimes that directly and indirectly relate to the prevention and control of infectious diseases.