Whatever legal culture one comes from (civil law, common law, Roman law, Islamic law), the goal of national public health law is to create the conditions in which people can live healthy lives. Governments cannot assure absolute health, but they have a duty to create conditions that give members of the public the best chance of enjoying good health, consistent with the values of social justice. Social justice, in the context of health, includes efforts to reduce health inequalities and to distribute both health services, and the benefits and burdens of public health interventions in a way that is fair.
The moral or legal duty of States to protect the health of citizens is the foundation of public health law. This duty is recognized in the Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organisation. In most countries, the right to life, and the right to health, are also recognized in national constitutions.
To fulfill their duty, governments need laws that set out their powers to discharge essential public health functions. These include laws relating to surveillance, screening, notification, laws relating to sanitation, safe water, safe and nutritious food, the safety of consumer products, injury prevention, tobacco reduction, and so on. The core public health
functions include:
- surveillance/monitoring of health status and risks to health;
- public health protection and assurance;
- health promotion (including education, and partnerships to empower individual and community health efforts);
- financing of public health interventions and, in many countries, of health care services;
- training and capacity building; and
- research and evaluation
Co-sponsored by:
The International Development Law Organisation (IDLO). The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University. The World Health Organisation (WHO)
Rome, Italy, 26-28 April 2009
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