The Rise of International Health Law

INTRODUCTION. Over the past decades under the influence of demographic processes, economic shocks, morbidity increase and other systemic problems a whole spectrum of threats to health has gradually formed at the international level, characterized by severe socio-economic consequences for each country regardless of the welfare level. Today, the challenges of ensuring universal coverage of services, access to safe, quality medicines, control of health care costs, effective response to health emergencies, antibiotic resistance are not limited by the WHO regulations, but are included in the agenda of the UN, ILO, FAO and other intergovernmental organizations. The need to form a unified approach to regulate activities of numerous participants in international healthcare regulation has served as an incentive for the gradual development of international legal regulation of the field of health protection, becoming the subject of study by leading legal scholars, as well as international organizations. The presented article provides a comprehensive analysis of the main historical stages in the development of international cooperation in the field of health protection, which served as the basis for the formation of international health law in the field of health protection as a new branch of international law. Special attention in the article is paid to the assessment of the role of globalization processes in changing the nature of threats to human and public health and their impact on the formation of global health governance concept. Based on the systemic problems that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, the author formulated the main directions for improving the international legal regulation of the health sector.
MATERIALS AND METHODS. During article preparation the following document were studied: acts of a universal and regional nature, resolutions of international organizations, legal positions of UN specialized agencies, as well as professional scientific associations. The theoretical basis of the research are the scientific works of national and foreign scientists in the field of international law and international relations in the field of health protection. The article was prepared using the general scientific method of cognition, including the formal logical and situational method and private law methods, such as comparative, historical and formal legal methods.
RESEARCH RESULTS. Within the framework of the study, a conclusion was formulated about the formation of "international health law" as a new branch of international law, uniting international legal norms and principles governing the relations of subjects of international law, as well as other participants in international relations in the field of human health. In the work, the author presents the main sources of "international health law" and formulates the subject of regulation of this branch of law.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. Describing the features of international cooperation in the field of health protection, expressed in an increase in the number of involved international organizations and other participants which are not subjects of international law, the author substantiates the formation of the concept of global health management and analyzes the main scientific publications in this area. Having studied the nature of health threats that have formed over the past decade under the influence of globalization processes, as well as the systematic problems of international cooperation demonstrated by the coronavirus pandemic, the authors emphasize the need to implement the repeatedly proposed initiative to develop a universal act that forms the basis of international legal regulation of health protection.

1. Belangera M. The future of international health legislation. – International Digest of Health Legislation. 1989. Vol. 40. Issue 1. P. 1–8

2. Bettcher D., Yach D, Guindone G. Global trade and health: Key linkages and future challenges. – Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2000. Vol. 78. Issue 4. P. 521–534.

3. Bjola, C., Kornprobst, M. Arguing Global Governance: Agency, Lifeworld, and Shared Reasoning. London: Routledge. 2011. 320 p.

4. Deutsch A. The World Health Organization: its global battle against disease. New York: Public Affairs Committee. 1958. 20p.

5. Fidler D., Gostin L. Biosecurity in the Global Age: Biological Weapons, Public Health and the Rule of Law. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 2008. 320 p.

6. Finkelstein, L. S. What is Global Governance? – Global Governance. 1995. Vol. 1. No. 3. P. 367–372.

7. Gellert G.A., Neumann A.K., Gordon R.S. The obsolescence of distinct domestic and international health sectors. – Journal of Public Health Policy. 1989. Vol. 10. Issue 4. P. 421–424.

8. Global Health Law. Vol. 1. Ed. by G. Burci. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. 2016. 1384 p.

9. Gostin L. Global Health Law. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 2014. 541 p.

10. Gostin L., Meier B. Introducing Global Health Law. – The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. 2019. Vol. 47. P. 788–793. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1073110519897794

11. Gostin L.O. [et al.]. The legal determinants of health: harnessing the power of law for global health and sustainable development. – The Lancet. 2019. Vol. 393. P. 1857– 1910. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30233-8

12. Gostin L.O., Habibi R., Meier B.M. Has global health law risen to meet the COVID-19 challenge? Revisiting the International Health Regulations to prepare for future threats. – The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. 2020. Vol. 48. P. 376–381. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1073110520935354

13. Harman S. Global Health Governance. Abingdon: Routledge. 2012. 200 p.

14. Hoffman S., Cole C.B. Defining the global health system and systematically mapping its network of actors. – Globalization and Health. 2018. Vol. 14. Issue 1. P. 1–19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-018-0340-2

15. Huynen M., Martens P., Hilderink H., The health impacts of globalisation: a conceptual framework. – Globalization and Health. 2005. Vol. 1. Issue 1. P. 1–12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-8603-1-14

16. Law and Global Health. Current legal issues. Vol. 16. Ed. by Freeman M., Hawkes S., Bennett B. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2014. 662 p.

17. Lee K., Kamradt-Scott A. The multiple meanings of global health governance: a call for conceptual clarity. – Globalization and Health. 2014. Vol. 10. Issue 1. P. 1–10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-8603-10-28

18. Malichenko V.S. Mezhdunarodno-pravovye mekhanizmy protivodeistviya chrezvychainym situatsiyam v sfere zdravookhraneniya [International Legal Mechanisms for Counteracting Health Emergencies]. – Pravo. Zhurnal Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki. 2021. No. 1. P. 174–197. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.17323/2072-8166.2021.1.174.197

19. Martens P. [et al.]. Is globalization healthy: a statistical indicator analysis of the impacts of globalization on health. – Globalization and Health. 2010. Vol. 6. Issue 1. P. 1–14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-8603-6-16

20. Martens, F. F. Sovremennoe mezhdunarodnoe pravo tsivilizovannykh narodov. V 2 t. T. 2 [Contemporary international law of civilized nations. In 2 volumes. Vol. 2]. Moscow: Zertsalo-M Publ. 2014. 428 p. (In Russ.)

21. McMichael A., Beaglehole R. The changing global context of public health. – The Lancet. 2000. Vol. 356. P. 577-582. DOI: 10.1016/s0140-6736(00)02564-2.

22. Mihajlov V.S. International health law: current status and future prospects. – International Digest of Health Legislation. 1989. Vol. 40. Issue 1. P. 9–28

23. Ruger J. Normative foundations of global health law. – The Georgetown Law Journal. 2008.Vol. 96. Issue 2. P. 423–443.

24. Sekalala S. Soft Law and Global Health Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2017. 314 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107278950

25. Taylor A. [et al.]. International Health Instruments: An Overview. – Oxford Textbook of Public Health. Ed by R. Detels [et al.]. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004. P. 359–386.

26. Taylor A., Bettcher D. WHO framework convention on tobacco control: a global good for public health. – Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2001. Vol. 78. No. 7. P.920–929. DOI: 10.1590/S0042-96862000000700010

27. Toebes B., International health law: an emerging field of public international law. – Indian Journal of International Law. 2015. Vol. 55. Issue 3. P. 299–328. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40901-016-0020-9

28. Walt G. Globalisation of international health. – The Lancet. Vol. 351. 1998. P. 434–437. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(97)05546-3

29. Weiss T., Ramesh T. Global governance and the UN: an unfinished journey. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2010. 448 p.

30. Winslow C. The untilled fields of public health. – Science. 1920. Vol. 51. No. 1306. P. 23–33. DOI: 10.1126/science.51.1306.23.

31. Yach D., Bettcher D. The globalization of public health II: The convergence of self-interest and altruism. – American Journal of Public Health. 1998. Vol. 88. Issue 5. P. 738–741. DOI: 10.2105/ajph.88.5.738