Global Health Ethics Research Articles

The Right to Health, International Law, and Economic Justice

Background: Proponents of free market conservatism object to the idea of a right to health per se, distinguished from a right to health care. They insist on the importance of economic growth and private affluence, efficiency in production and consumption in the health sector, and eschew governmental regulation. Discussion: The free market conservative approach to health care ignores some fundamentals of human rights discourse, the basic features of international law, and the demands for economic justice in the health sector. This is particularly problematic in light of the economic disparities between industrialized and developing countries, as well as the immense global burden of disease in the latter. Summary: 1. The right to health is a fundamental human right, having the status of a non-derogable right. 2. The declaratory tradition of international law, with its attention to progressive achievements, does not eliminate State obligations to recognize, protect, and fulfill the right to health. 3. A just economy recognizes the obligation of States to regulate distribution in the health sector. 4. Globalization elicits attention to the task of articulating a global public health ethics. Health and human rights are complementary approaches to the advancement of human well being. --Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General, World Health Organization The naive idealist who thinks he knows truth—without accounting for competing claims of the self-interests of others—is a danger. We need the insight of both children to forge truly moral social policies. --Joel Rosenthal, President, Carnegie Council on Ethics in International Affairs

Global Health Law, Ethics, and Policy

Global Health Law, Ethics, and Policy

Globalization and health: an introduction

List of Tables, Figures and Boxes Preface Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations PART 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO GLOBAL HEALTH Introduction What is globalization? Globalization and health: A conceptual framework Purpose and structure of the book PART 2: GLOBALIZATION AND HEALTH: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Introduction The evolution of human societies, health and disease before 1500 The global health impact of European exploration from 1492 The global health dimensions of the Industrial Revolution (1750 - 1919) The rise of international health (1920s to 1950s) Conclusions Key Readings PART 3: THE SPATIAL DIMENSION OF GLOBAL HEALTH Introduction Globalization as a new geography The health implications of an emerging global economy The globalization of the pharmaceutical industry The globalization of the food industry The globalization of the tobacco industry Global environment change and health Global demographic change and health Conclusions: Towards a global geography of health Key Readings PART 4: THE TEMPORAL DIMENSION OF GLOBAL HEALTH Introduction Speeding up, slowing down: The pace of global change The global spectre of infectious disease: The quick and the dead Fast food and slow death: Diet and nutrition in a world hooked on speed The mental health effects of temporal change Designer genes: Evolution out of the window? Environmental sustainability and global health Conclusions: Playing for time in global health Key Readings PART 5: THE COGNITIVE DIMENSION OF GLOBAL HEALTH Introduction The globalization of health sector reform: From Health for All to pay your own way Priority setting in global health policy: Whose agenda? The role of scientific research: The transnational power of epistemic communities The globalization of lifestyles: The health consequences of marketing and advertising Towards consensus on global health ethics Conclusions Key Readings PART 6: CONCLUSIONS: AN AGENDA FOR GLOBAL HEALTH Introduction The importance of definition: From international to global health The changing nature of health inequalities Health and the sustainability of globalization Good governance for global health Framework Convention on Tobacco Contro International Women's Health Coalition Global Public Health Intelligence Network Conclusions Key Readings Notes References Index

Global health ethics: the rationale for mutual caring

Despite spectacular twentieth century scientific and technological progress, the world is more inequitable than it was fifty years ago. This is evident both in terms of access to health care for individuals, and in relation to the health of whole populations. Disparities in wealth and health within and between nations are widening inexorably and the rapidly expanding global economy has failed to reduce poverty among those with little if any access to health care. In this context the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains an unrealized aspiration for the majority of the world's people. Given these realities, no single discipline, or body of knowledge is likely to make much difference. For example, approaches based only on neo–liberal economics, as exemplified by the structural adjustment programmes of the World Bank, have not been successful in promoting health equity. The authors believe that an interdisciplinary approach is required, and that bioethics, an interdisciplinary field, can make a contribution towards improving health globally. To do this, the scope of bioethics should be expanded towards a results–oriented global health ethics, based upon widely shared and foundational values that could be carried forward through five transformational approaches.