Global Health and International Community Ethical, Political and Regulatory Challenges

Global health arguably represents the most pressing issues facing humanity. Trends in international migration and transnational commerce render state boundaries increasingly porous. Human activity in one part of the world can lead to health impacts elsewhere. Animals, viruses and bacteria as well as pandemics and environmental disasters do not recognize or respect political borders. It is now widely accepted that a global perspective on the understanding of threats to health and how to respond to them is required, but there are many practical problems in establishing such an approach.

This book offers a foundational study of these urgent and challenging problems, combining critical analysis with practically focused policy contributions. The contributors span the fields of ethics, human rights, international relations, law, philosophy and global politics. They address normative questions relating to justice, equity and inequality and practical questions regarding multi-organizational cooperation, global governance and international relations. Moving from the theoretical to the practical, Global Health and International Community is an essential resource for scholars, students, activists and policy makers across the globe.

John Coggan is Research Fellow in the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation, University of Manchester, UK

Swati Gola is a PhD student at the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation, University of Manchester, UK

Introduction, John Coggon and Swati Gola

Part I: Framing Global Ethics and International Justice

1. On Some Difficulties for Any Theory of Global Health Justice, Stephen R. Latham
2. Ethics and Global Health Inequalities, Richard Ashcroft
3. Why Bioethics Must Be Global, Heather Widdows and Peter West-Oram
4. Needs, Obligations and International Relations for Global Health in the 21st Century, Solomon R Benatar
5. Just Health, From National to Global: Claiming Global Social Protection, Gorik Ooms and Rachel Hammonds

Part II: Practical Challenges in Global Health Governance

6. Righting Climate Change Wrongs? The Human Right to Health as Accountability Mechanism for the Health Impacts of Climate Change, Keith Syrett
7. Genetically Modified Organisms: An Ethical and Sustainable Way to Food Security? Lisbeth Witthøfft Nielsen
8. Improving Global Health: Intellectual Property Rights and Alternative Ways of Incentivising Innovation, Sadie Regmi
9. Drug Resistance, Patents and Justice: Who Owns the Effectiveness of Antibiotics?, James Wilson
10. Health in the International Governance of Biotechnology – The Real, the Ideal and the Achievable, Catherine Rhodes
11. Awareness of and Education about the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC): Why This Is Needed By All Life Scientists and How It Might Be Achieved, Malcolm Dando

Part III: Political and Regulatory Responses in Global Health

12. The Human Right to Health: Whose Obligation?, Doris Schroeder 13. Institutionalising Solidarity for Health, Thomas Gebauer 14. Reinforcing Global Health Normative Frameworks and Legal Obligations: Can Adaptive Governance Help?, William Onzivu
15. Meeting Basic Survival Needs of the World’s Least Healthy People: Toward a Framework Convention on Global Health, Lawrence O. Gostin