National public health law: a role for WHO in capacity-building and promoting transparency

Abstract

A robust health infrastructure in every country is the most effective long-term preparedness strategy for global health emergencies. This includes not only health systems and their human resources, but also countries’ legal infrastructure for health: the laws and policies that empower, obligate and sometimes limit government and private action. The law is also an important tool in health promotion and protection. Public health professionals play important roles in health law – from the development of policies, through their enforcement, to the scientific evaluation of the health impact of laws. Member States are already mandated to communicate their national health laws and regulations to the World Health Organization (WHO). In this paper we propose that WHO has the authority and credibility to support capacity-building in the area of health law within Member States, and to make national laws easier to access, understand, monitor and evaluate. We believe a strong case can be made to donors for the funding of a public health law centre or unit, that has adequate staffing, is robustly networked with its regional counterparts and is integrated into the main work of WHO. The mission of the unit or centre would be to define and integrate scientific and legal expertise in public health law, both technical and programmatic, across the work of WHO, and to conduct and facilitate global health policy surveillance.

The legal determinants of health: harnessing the power of law for global health and sustainable development

“…Specific public health laws include "laws that are intended as health interventions, laws that define the powers, duties and boundaries of health agencies and systems, and laws that have an impact on health but were not enacted primarily with population health in mind". 5 Examples for each of these categories are provided (panel 11).…”

“…Although many global health professionals will be familiar with legal measures as an emergency response to health crises, this is only one facet of law. 5 Less well understood is the role of law in governing global health institutions, in resolving disputes, and in health promotion and protection. Even less visible are those uses of law that, while not necessarily designed to affect health, have a profound impact upon it.…”

The value proposition of the Global Health Security Index

“…It enables decision makers to track how global health initiatives are financed, detect and respond quickly to emergent outbreaks, coordinate responses with international partners and ensure accountability in publicprivate partnerships. [23][24][25][26][27] COVID-19 has recently reaffirmed the importance of transparency in case reporting, surveillance and containment, especially as countries take steps to resume routine economic, social and educational activities. Transparency in scientific practice has also proven crucial during COVID-19.…”

National Policies to Prevent and Manage Cervical Cancer in East African Countries: A Policy Mapping Analysis

“…Public health cannot be effective without laws, and countries cannot achieve their goals unless the necessary legal and regulatory tools have been developed and implemented. In recent years, policy mapping has emerged as an approach to provide transparency in health laws [13,14].…”