The Lancet: The legal determinants of health: harnessing the power of law for global health and sustainable development
Lawrence O. Gostin, O’Neill professor of Global Health Law and director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, and colleagues discuss the Lancet-O’Neill Institute Commission on Global Health and Law, with the mission to “articulat[e] the crucial role of law in achieving global health with justice, through legal instruments, legal capacities, and institutional reforms, as well as a firm commitment to the rule of law. The Commission’s aim is to enhance the global health community’s understanding of law, regulation, and the rule of law as effective tools to advance population health and equity.” In addition to the Lancet Commission’s report, The Lancet also published two commentaries discussing the report, one by Carmel Williams, executive editor of the Health and Human Rights Journal, and Paul Hunt, chief human rights commissioner for New Zealand, and another by Lancet editors Selina Lo and Richard Horton (4/30).