Introduction

Health is vitally important for every human being in the world. Global health matters to everyone, not just to those living in developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The enjoyment of the hihgest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition”. Since 15 June 2007, the world has been implementing the International Health Regulations (IHR). The International Health Regulations are a legally-binding international agreement that govern the roles of the World Health Organization and its Member States around the globe in identifying, sharing information about, and responding to public health events that may have international consequences. Since then trade and travel have increased significantly. Under the revised Regulations, countries that have accepted the IHR have broader responsibility to take preventive measures against, as well as to detect and respond to, any event that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern. The International Health Regulations also give the WHO clearer authority to recommend to its Member States measures that will help contain the international spread of disease, including public health actions to be taken. The IHR cover all hazards, not just infectious diseases.

This Research Guide is intended as a starting point for research on Health. It provides the basic legal materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Handbooks, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Selective Bibliography section. Links to the PPL Catalogue are inserted. The Library's systematic classification → Public international law and subject heading (keyword) Health are instrumental for searching through the Catalogue. Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, this Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.

New titles

The Peace Palace Library has a collection of over a million publications. Each week, about six hundred new titles are added to our collection: books, articles, documents, online publications, etc. On this page, access is provided to this week’s new titles on the topic health. Health and public health concerns a variety of topics and aspects of health; the right to health, infectious diseases, access to medicines, healthcare, sanitary law, food and drug law, from the ethics of embryonic stem cell research to the role and responsibility of the government, safety regulations and medical malpractice.

Epidemics and International Law : A Selective Bibliography

Ms. Eveline N. van Trigt (Peace Palace Library, The Hague)

Introductory Note:
This bibliography has been compiled from a number of sources. It concerns digital and printed materials from the Peace Palace Library and also several (legal) sources from the internet. Such as: legal databases, articles,  legal blogs, repositories, webinars and other relevant sources for the use of the researchers of the Centre for Studies and Research in International Law and International Relations of the Hague Academy of International Law. The bibliography is continually being updated and will reach its final shape and size in 2021.

Please log in to your account on the website of the Peace Palace Library with your email address and password in order to access all bibliographic content. In case it concerns books and articles which are not digitally available through our library catalogue, these bibliographic entries are followed by an ocn number (OCLC Control Number) so you can look them up either in the Peace Palace Library catalogue or in another library catalogue. Or you can launch - against costs - an interlibrary loan request at the PPL.

If you have any problems with access to online databases, digital books or articles, please ask for assistance at the Reading Room desk ( library@peacepalace.org ).

 

As we are right in the middle of moving to a new library system, it is not yet possible to automatically collect new titles for this Research Guide.

Bibliography

New titles

Librarian's choice

• Yamin, A.E., Power, Suffering, and the Struggle for Dignity : Human Rights Frameworks for Health and why they matter, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, PENN, 2016.

  

  Directed at a diverse audience of students, legal and public health practitioners, and anyone interested in understanding what human rights-based approaches (HRBAs) to health and development mean and why they matter, Power, Suffering, and the Struggle for Dignity provides a solid foundation for comprehending what a human rights framework implies and the potential for social transformation it entails. Applying a human rights framework to health demands that we think about our own suffering and that of others, as well as the fundamental causes of that suffering. What is our agency as human subjects with rights and dignity, and what prevents us from acting in certain circumstances? What roles are played by others in decisions that affect our health? How do we determine whether what we may see as "natural" is actually the result of mutable, human policies and practices?

  View this title in our discovery service
  

• Iyioha, I.O. and Nwabueze, R.N., Comparative Health Law and Policy : Critical Perspectives on Nigerian and Global Health Law, Farnham, Surrey, England, Burlington, VT, USA, Ashgate, 2015.

  

  Health law and policy in Nigeria is an evolving and complex field of law, spanning a broad legal landscape and drawn from various sources. In addressing and interacting with these sources the volume advances research on health care law and policy in Nigeria and spells the beginning of what may now be formally termed the ’Nigerian health law and policy’ legal field. The collection provides a comparative analysis of relevant health policies and laws, such as reproductive and sexual health policy, organ donation and transplantation, abortion and assisted conception, with those in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and South Africa. It critically examines the duties and rights of physicians, patients, health institutions and organizations, and government parastatals against the backdrop of increased awareness of rights among patient populations. The subjects, which are discussed from a legal, ethical and policy-reform perspective, critique current legislation and policies and make suggestions for reform. The volume presents a cohesive, comparative, and comprehensive analysis of the state of health law and policy in Nigeria with those in the US, Canada, South Africa, and the UK. As such, it provides a valuable comparison between Western and Non-Western countries.

  View this title in our discovery service
  

• Ferguson, P.R. and G.T. Laurie, Inspiring a Medico-legal Revolution : Essays in Honour of Sheila McLean, Farnham, Surrey, UK England, Burlington, VT USA, Ashgate, 2015.

  

  This book marks the retirement of Professor Sheila McLean, whose contribution to the discipline of medical law has been truly ground breaking. As one of the pioneers of the discipline, Sheila McLean inspired a revolution in the ways in which lawyers, doctors, courts and patients perceive the relationship between medicine and the law. The first International Bar Association Professor of Law and Ethics in Medicine, she has worked tirelessly to champion the importance of lawyers role in regulating medicine and protecting patient's rights. The span in content of this book reflects the range of contributions that Professor McLean has herself made. Her work gave direction and shape to a new field of study at a time when few questioned the authority of medicine or thought much about the plight of the patient. This collection brings together 21 leading scholars in healthcare law and ethics to honour the depth and significance of her contribution. Including authors from the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, the contributions cover areas as diverse as start and end of life, reproductive rights and termination of pregnancy, autonomy of patients, the protection of vulnerable patient groups, and the challenges posed by new technologies.

  View this title in our discovery service
  

• Raptopoulou, K., EU law and Healthcare Services: Normative Approaches to Public Health Systems, Alphen aan den Rijn, Wolters Kluwer, Law & Business, 2015.

  

  EU Law and Healthcare Services: Normative Approaches to Public Health Systems focuses on the EU legal mechanisms surrounding healthcare law in Europe. You will benefit from a detailed examination of the extent to which the market imperatives that have been introduced in recent decades can actually influence, remodel, alter, unify, or fragment the national provision of health care services across the EU. This book takes a giant step towards bringing the frequently invoked criteria of universality, access to good quality care, equity, and solidarity to the fore, and for this reason is sure to make its mark on healthcare law in Europe.

  View this title in our discovery service
  

Database

Blogs

• Online Centre for Studies Bibliography: “Epidemics and International Law”.

  For the researchers of the Online Centre for Studies and Research in International Law and International Relations of the Hague Academy of International Law, Eveline van Trigt, jurist and a senior foreign, comparative, and international law librarian of the Peace Palace Library, has compiled a bibliography about epidemics and international law.

  The directors of research for the Online Centre programme of 2020-2021 are Professor Shinya Murase (Sophia University, Tokyo) and Ms. Suzanne Zhou (McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer, Melbourne).

  This bibliography is concerned with epidemics and international law. It deals both with epidemics in relationship to international law in general and with the interrelationships of several international law disciplines and applicable international law rules.

  Read more

• Ebola and the Questions It Raises

  On August 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan declared the West Africa Ebola crisis a “public health emergency of international concern,” saying “our collective health security depends on urgent support for containment in the affected countries”, triggering powers under the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR). The Ebola outbreak raises a number of questions. Has the WHO responded to Ebola as swiftly as it should have? Since 1976 more than 15 Ebola outbreaks have erupted in sub-Saharan Africa, so why hasn’t it been eradicated already? And what about ethical questions?

  Read more

• This Time for Africa

  Even though the biggest economy of the African continent is working on a new future, the country is still facing a lot of social problems. Lately, the news showed us the mine strikes in the platinum industry. These strikes can have an impact on other sectors as well, which is not preferable in a country like South Africa. Furthermore, there is unemployment and poverty, but still one of South Africa’s biggest problems is the people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

  Read more

• Food Crisis

  The global increase in food prices will plunge millions of people into hunger worldwide. Starvation and food shortage already caused food riots and are threatening to destabilize regimes.

  Read more

Links

See also

More Research guides on Special Topics

• Air Law
• Cultural Heritage
• Environment
• Food
• Labour
• Law of the Sea
• Polar Regions
• Space Law
• Sport
• Territory
• Water

PPL keywords

• Health
• Medical services
• Sanitary law
• World Health Organization