The Lancet – O’Neill Institute, Georgetown University Commission on Global Health and the Law hosted a panel at the Chatham House in London, launching the Commission’s report, The Legal Determinants of Health. Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, moderated the panel, which included Yamsin Batliwala, Chief Executive of Advocates for International Development (A4ID), Dr. Sharifah Sekalala, Associate Professor at University of Warwick, Rob Yates, Head of the Center on Global Health Security at the Chatham House, and the Commission’s co-chairs. The panelists highlighted current efforts on universal health coverage through advocacy and research at their respective organizations and noted the substantial yet largely untapped potential of law and legal advocacy in promoting global health.

Lady Hale of Richmond, President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (the Court) made opening remarks for the panel. She recounted the Court’s recent rulings where laws engaged in the current public health discourse of the United Kingdom in two critical functions. First, laws contemplated by the Court have sought to promote healthy living and discourage unhealthy living, not by imposing an absolute ban on certain activities, but by allowing measures that nudge the public towards making health-conscious choices on alcohol and tobacco. Second, the Court considered the law’s role in affording access to healthcare, particularly for women needing abortions.

The Commission’s co-chairs, Professors Lawrence Gostin and John Monahan of Georgetown University Law Center, continued the panel by highlighting the central message: the law is both a “powerful health determinant” and an “underutilized tool for promoting health.” The Commission’s co-chairs posited two overarching questions: (1) what would an ideal state of global health with justice look like and (2) what would an ideal state of law look like in relation to public health? According to Professor Gostin, an ideal state of global health requires (i) universal health coverage, i.e. affordable and accessible healthcare; (ii) fundamental public health services, including nutritious food and clean water, safe transportation, and infectious disease control; and (iii) measures informed by socioeconomic determinants of health to alleviate the existing injustice of health. On the other hand, an ideal state of law in relation to public health has four pillars: (i) justice, i.e., reducing disparities of health; (ii) rule of law, meaning that everyone has to abide by their legal obligations; (iii) good governance and accountability; and (iv) promotion and protection of health, meaning that the law should be used as a tool in the face of existing and new public health challenges. The Commission’s effort is inclusive and empowering rather than an outside savior mission.

By joining efforts of lawyers and health professionals from both the Global North and the Global South, the Commission further seeks to answer the questions by surveying the progress on different population’s health made by public health regulations and the remaining challenges, including further marginalization of vulnerable groups, obesity, and restricted access to medicine due to international intellectual property schemes. Persistent health disparities across the global population have demonstrated that the world has yet to fulfill its promise of “leaving no one behind” made in the Sustainable Development Goals.  Looking to the ideal state of law and public health, the Commission promised to help countries draft universal health coverage laws around the globe by providing scientific evidence and legislative assistance to local lawmakers.