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Personal Crusades for Public Health

Bill of Health

By Katherine Macfarlane Public health in the U.S. This essay describes the cost of casting aside what is best for the public’s health in favor of individual choice, especially to those who are high-risk for serious illness or death from COVID-19. It explores how they must negotiate public health measures on their own.

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Failures of Imagination in Public Health Policy

Bill of Health

By Daniel Swartzman If public health is to prosper, we will need to overcome the after-effects of several failures of imagination. Failing to use litigation against inadequate public health actions, as did the early civil rights and environmental movements. Failing to demand moral leadership of governmental actors.

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Reviewing Solidarity in the Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies

Bill of Health

By Eduardo Arenas Catalán The Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies (the Principles), entail a notable attempt to consolidate lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. The critical notion of shared but differentiated responsibilities is thus strengthened within global public health.

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Old Dogs and New Tricks: A Case for the Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights & Public Health Emergencies

Bill of Health

Though the government has learnt lessons in the past, and though it has codified some aspects of these lessons into our laws and policies relating to public health, it has always used a disease lens in the application of the lessons learned as opposed to a human rights lens.

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Federalizing Public Health

Bill of Health

By Elizabeth Weeks The most promising path forward in public health is to continue recognizing federal authority and responsibility in this space. Historically, public health law primacy resides with states via their core, Tenth Amendment reserved police powers to address residents’ health, safety, and welfare.

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The End of Public Health? It’s Not Dead Yet

Bill of Health

By Nicole Huberfeld Once again, health law has become a vehicle for constitutional change , with courts hollowing federal and state public health authority while also generating new challenges. In administrative law disputes, a critical aspect of public health law, clear statement rules enforce separation of powers.

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Judging in the Pandemic – A Malawian Perspective

Bill of Health

By Zione Ntaba Malawi is not a stranger to public health crises in the last number of years, having faced a severe HIV epidemic and several cholera outbreaks continuing into 2023. It is with this context in mind that I turn to reflecting on the Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies (“Principles”).

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