Global health law and obesity: towards a complementary approach of public health and human rights law

Cathaoir, Katharina Ó; Hartlev, Mette; Olsen, Céline Brassart

doi:10.4337/9781785366543.00022

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…In our conceptual model, civil society is positioned as a powerful driver of political change, both nationally and globally. By framing action on obesity in terms of human rights responsibilities, the political response to obesity becomes an issue of social justice and worthy of vigorous civic and political engagement …”

Section: Conceptual Model For a Rights–based Response To Obesitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By framing action on obesity in terms of human rights responsibilities, the political response to obesity becomes an issue of social justice and worthy of vigorous civic and political engagement. 68 Buse and Sprague have identified lessons for NCDs from the global response to HIV and AIDS, including human rights. 69 Civil society organizations responding to NCDs, including obesity, are increasingly using the language of human rights to call for action on the social determinants of FIGURE 2 How a human rights-based approach can advance the obesity agenda health.…”

Section: Level Commission On Noncommunicable Diseases Recommended Thatmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identifying a human rights–based approach to obesity for States and civil society

et al. 2019

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Summary Obesity and its comorbidities pose daunting challenges to global health and development in the 21st century. This paper reviews some commonalities between obesity and another global health challenge, the pandemic of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). International human rights law was an important catalyst for civil society movements that helped to overcome inertia and generate political will for State action in response to HIV and AIDS. Drawing on the HIV experience, the authors propose a conceptual model for a human rights–based response to obesity founded on the twin pillars of State obligations and civil society engagement. Framing States' obligations to address the global obesity pandemic as a matter of international law, informed by the examples of the United Nations “International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights” and the General Comments of the United Nations human rights treaty bodies on HIV and AIDS, provides a normative framework to guide State actions and opportunities to engage the extensive accountability mechanisms of the United Nations international human rights system. In addition, it provides civil society organizations with the language and tools to demand State action on obesity. The authors call for similar authoritative guidance for States on the application of international human rights law to obesity.

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Section: Conceptual Model For a Rights–based Response To Obesitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Level Commission On Noncommunicable Diseases Recommended Thatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying a human rights–based approach to obesity for States and civil society

et al. 2019

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“…3 Over recent decades, it has become increasingly evident that industry self-regulation is less effective to improve diets than government regulation. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Yet, and despite sustained calls by the public health community for comprehensive regulatory frameworks to safeguard children's right to health in particular, [17][18][19][20] such policies remain sporadic. This disconnect reflects the significant role played by politics, values, ideas and discourse, as well as the notion that all evidence is socially constructed, 21 contestable…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commercial use of evidence in public health policy: a critical assessment of food industry submissions to global-level consultations on non-communicable disease prevention

2021

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BackgroundUltra-processed food industry (UPFI) actors have consistently opposed statutory regulation in health policy debates, including at the WHO. They do so most commonly with claims that regulatory policies do not work, will have negative consequences or that alternatives such as self-regulation work well or better. Underlying this are often assertions that industry is aligned with principles of evidence-based policymaking. In this study, we interrogate if this holds true by exploring the extent and quality of the evidence UPFI respondents employed to support claims around regulatory policy, and how they did this.MethodsFirst, we identified all submissions from organisations who overtly represent UPFI companies to consultations held by the WHO on non-communicable disease policy between 2016 and 2018. Second, we extracted all relevant factual claims made in these submissions and noted if any evidence was referenced in support. Third, we assessed the quality of evidence using independence from UPFI, nature, and publication route as indicators. Lastly, where peer-reviewed research was cited, we examined if the claims made could be justified by the source cited.ResultsAcross 26 included consultation responses, factual claims around regulation were made in 18, although only 10 referenced any evidence at all. Of all 114 claims made, 39 pieces of identifiable evidence were cited in support of 56 claims. Of the 39 distinct pieces of evidence, two-thirds were industry-funded or industry-linked, with only 16 externally peer-reviewed. Over half of industry-funded or industry-linked academic articles failed to declare a conflict of interest (COI). Overall, of only six claims which drew on peer-reviewed and independent research, none appropriately represented the source.DiscussionUPFI respondents made far-reaching claims which were rarely supported by high-quality, independent evidence. This indicates that there may be few, if any, benefits from consulting actors with such a clear COI.

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Ethical and human rights considerations in public health in low and middle-income countries: an assessment using the case of Uganda’s responses to COVID-19 pandemic

et al. 2020

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Background In response to COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Uganda adopted public health measures to contain its spread in the country. Some of the initial measures included refusal to repatriate citizens studying in China, mandatory institutional quarantine, and social distancing. Despite being a public health emergency, the measures adopted deserve critical appraisal using an ethics and human rights approach. The goal of this paper is to formulate an ethics and human rights criteria for evaluating public health measures and use it to reflect on the ethical propriety of those adopted by the government of Uganda to contain the spread of COVID-19. Main body We begin by illustrating the value of ethics and human rights considerations for public health measures including during emergencies. We then summarize Uganda’s social and economic circumstances and some of the measures adopted to contain the spread of COVID-19. After reviewing some of the ethics and human rights considerations for public health, we reflect upon the ethical propriety of some of Uganda’s responses to COVID-19. We use content analysis to identify the measures adopted by the government of Uganda to contain the spread of COVID-19, the ethics and human rights considerations commonly recommended for public health responses and their importance. Our study found that some of the measures adopted violate ethics and human rights principles. We argue that even though some human rights can sometimes be legitimately derogated and limited to meet public health goals during public health emergencies, measures that infringe on human rights should satisfy certain ethics and human rights criteria. Some of these criteria include being effective, strictly necessary, proportionate to the magnitude of the threat, reasonable in the circumstances, equitable, and least restrictive. We reflect on Uganda’s initial measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 and argue that many of them fell short of these criteria, and potentially limit their effectiveness. Conclusion The ethical legitimacy of public health measures is valuable in itself and for enhancing effectiveness of the measures. Such legitimacy depends on the extent to which they conform to ethics and human rights principles recommended for public health measures.

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Global health law and obesity: towards a complementary approach of public health and human rights law

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Identifying a human rights–based approach to obesity for States and civil society

Identifying a human rights–based approach to obesity for States and civil society

Commercial use of evidence in public health policy: a critical assessment of food industry submissions to global-level consultations on non-communicable disease prevention

Ethical and human rights considerations in public health in low and middle-income countries: an assessment using the case of Uganda’s responses to COVID-19 pandemic

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