Responding to the Public Health Harms of a Globalizing World Through Human Rights in Global Governance (Introduction)

Abstract

This introductory chapter frames the comparative examination of human rights in global health governance. Part I defines the broader field of global health governance, examining the institutions that address public health challenges in a globalizing world. With these institutions providing a basis to implement human rights for global health, Part II examines the development of health-related human rights under international law and the need to implement these rights through global governance. Framing human rights in global governance, Part III outlines the wide array of institutions of global health governance that bear human rights implementation responsibilities, detailing the evolving standards by which institutions have sought to mainstream human rights in organizational policies, programs, and practices. To compare these rights-based efforts, Part IV outlines the research methods by which the contributing authors have studied individual institutions of global governance for health. Part V outlines the structure of this edited volume, delineating the sections and chapters that identify distinct organizational approaches to (and determinants of) human rights in global health governance. This introduction concludes by recognizing the importance of comparative analysis in understanding institutional approaches to human rights in global health, framing this new field of inquiry and calling on scholars, practitioners, and advocates to work together to advance rights-based governance in a globalizing world.