70125 - International Law and Health

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has an in-depth understanding of the relationship between international law and public health. The student becomes familiar with the principal issues of international health law, including the major international health Treaties and governing structures. The focus of the course is especially oriented on international institutions such as: the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, the World Trade Organization, the International Labor Organization, and the World Bank; and on the important role that those play in the international health governance and in the development of health regulation and policy. A comprehensive approach to international health law involves multiple, interrelated fields, including trade, economics, intellectual property, human rights, ethics, and national security. Through the unit, the student is trained to identify legal issues and to explore the tension between public goals and private rights and interests, and he/she is expected to apply the law to particular policy contexts and public health issues and to critically evaluate the laws effectiveness in protecting and promoting the public health.

Course contents

This course provides a critical overview of the contemporary international legal framework concerning the right to health. The course will focus on the following issues:

a) Definition, scope and functions of international health law;

b) The right to health: health care privatisation and corruption;

c) The role of WHO as the main institutional actor in health governance and its regulatory role;

d) The roles and functions of NGOs as private not-for-profit organisations engaged in the delivery of health care services also to migrants;

e) EU health law

f) International health tourism and patient mobility in Europe

g) Public-Private Partnerships as legal tools whereby to organise and supply health care services

Readings/Bibliography

INTERNATIONAL HEALTH LAW

Jennifer Prah Ruger, “Normative Foundations of Global Health Law”, Georgetown Law Journal, 2008, vol. 96, pp. 423-43. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1024781

Lawrence O. Gostin and Devi Sridhar, “Global Health and the Law”, in The New England Journal of Medicine, 2014;370: 1732-40

Christopher Newdick, “Global capitalism and the crisis of the public interest – sleepwalking into disaster”, in S. Breau and K. Samuel (eds), "Research Handbook on Disasters and International Law," (2016, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK), pp. 23-45

Audrey Chapman, “The Impact of Reliance on Private Sector Health Services on the Right to Health”, Health and Human Rights, July 1, 2014, Volume 16, Number 1, pp. 1-14

INTERNATIONAL LAW AND PUBLIC HEALTH: THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

Roberto de Vogli, Noemi Renzetti, “The Potential Impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on public health”, Epidemiol Prev 2016; 40 (2):95-102

Alceste Santuari, “Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the provision of health care services to migrants in times of welfare crisis. The EU institutional context and the Italian legal system” (mimeo)

EU HEALTH LAW

Tamara K. Hervey, Telling stories about European Union Health Law: The emergence of a new field of law, in Comparative European Politics, 2016, pp. 1–18

A. P. Den Exter, M. Guy, Market competition in health care markets in the Netherlands: some lessons for England?, in Medical Law Review, May 2014, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 255-273.

INTERNATIONAL HEALTH TOURISM AND CROSS-BORDER HEALTH CARE IN EUROPE

Rory Johnston, Valorie A Crooks, Jeremy Snyder, Paul Kingsbury, “What is known about the effects of medical tourism in destination and departure countries? A scoping review”, International Journal for Equity in Health 2010, 9:24

André den Exter, Alceste Santuari and Tomislav Sokol, “One Year after the EU Patient Mobility Directive: A Three-Country Analysis”, in European Law Review, Issue 2, 2015, pp. 279-293

M. Frischhut, R. Levaggi, “Patient mobility in the context of austerity and an enlarged EU: The European Court of Justice’s ruling in the Petru Case”, in Health Policy 119 (2015) Pages 1293–1297

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS (PPPs)

Jane Broadbent, Richard Laughlin, (2003), "Public private partnerships: an introduction", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 16 Issue 3 pp. 332 – 341 (Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513570310482282 )

Jens K. Roehrich, Michael A. Lewis, Gerard George, “Are public-private partnerships a healthy option? A systematic literature review”, Social Science & Medicine 113 (2014) pp. 110-119

Additional readings will be suggested during the Course.

Teaching methods

Lectures, case studies and project works

Assessment methods

The overall assessment will be based on both project works (40% of the total grade) and a final written examination (60% of the total grade). This will consist of up to 6 open questions.

Teaching tools

Teaching materials will be uploaded on the relevant university website (AMS Campus)

Office hours

See the website of Alceste Santuari