Groningen Centre for Health Law

The international human rights system, grounded in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and UN human rights treaties and resolutions, provides a strong normative and legal framework for these conversations. It is far from perfect but, in the spirit of hopeful futures, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

This blog post only reveals the tip of the iceberg: SMU and (the right to) health are connected in many more ways. As we are in the middle of the information age and effective technology sometimes passes us by, it is time to consider the structural impact of technological development, including social media use, on (the right to) health.

This moment is devastating - but it is also clarifying. It is a reminder that global health cannot rest on the whims of a single government. Our students will be the ones to build a more robust future for global health law, one that is not beholden to unreliable actors. Perhaps some of them will go on to be the leaders we need, taking with them these hard-earned lessons and applying them in ways we cannot yet imagine.

The U.S. withdrawal from aid programs creates a gap that could be filled by other global powers, particularly China. China has demonstrated its commitment to regional influence through initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its support during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it donated Sinovac vaccines to Indonesia.

Smoke-Free Zones measures are only effective with more comprehensive policies strategy and when its implemented strictly. Unfortunately, the Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) revealed that there are still many local governments that are not serious about implementing Smoke-Free Areas.

Doctors were forced to operate on wounded persons and carry out amputations, including on children, without anaesthetics, and/or were forced to use inadequate and unsafe means to sedate patients, causing these persons extreme pain and suffering. This amounts to the crime against humanity of other inhumane acts.

With the US’s dismantling of its long-lasting foreign policy, including the all-but-eliminated USAID, we’re seeing a dramatic shift in how other actors are responding. The immediate focus is on finding other donors to fill the dire funding gaps, but this stage is temporary. Europe will need to adapt its approach to foreign assistance in light of the changed environment. This post posits that the likely medium-term response will be to develop foreign aid policies focused on regional health security, with sub-Saharan Africa being the key region in mind.

On Sunday, February 9, Aart Hendriks passed away due to a brain hemorrhage. Aart was a professor of health law at Leiden University and a judge in Rotterdam. We have lost in him a gifted health lawyer and legal scholar, as well as a charming, warm, and deeply engaged colleague.

To understand the public health havoc that the wrecking ball in Washington DC is now creating, think where we would be if AIDS had not been reported by the MMWR in 1981. In mid-February, NPR reported that the US has restricted communication on disease spread as well as domestic institutions' ability to share data with the WHO.

Khat is a stimulant drug which is banned across the developed world for its health effects. Kenya’s National Authority for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse has also classified the khat variety as a harmful substance based on the stimulants cathinone and cathine found in the plant. While in Ethiopia, the government-owned Public Health Institute recognizes it as one of the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.