Health & Human Rights

Human rights are essential to global health. The inextricable linkages between global health and human rights have given rise to the interdisciplinary field of “health and human rights.” Through this field, human rights offer universal frameworks to advance justice in global health under international law, elaborating the freedoms and entitlements necessary to realize dignity for all.
PublicationsPresentationsPublic Engagement
Truthout
Public Engagement
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Oct 2024
As US Erodes Sexual and Reproductive Rights, International Law Can Be a Lifeline
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Women's & Children's Health
The Lancet
Publications
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May 2024
Collective Action and Legal Mobilisation for the Right to Health in the Climate Crisis
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Tobacco Control & Environmental Health
Consortium of Universities for Global Health
Presentations
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Mar 2024
Climate Change as a Threat to Global Health & Human Rights
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Tobacco Control & Environmental Health
Consortium of Universities for Global Health
Presentations
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Mar 2024
Reforming Global Health Law to Ensure Human Rights in Global Health
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COVID-19
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
Publications
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Dec 2023
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health: Undermining Public Health, Facilitating Reproductive Coercion
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Women's & Children's Health
PLOS Global Public Health
Publications
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Dec 2023
A Critical Juncture for Human Rights in Global Health: Strengthening Human Rights through Global Health Law Reforms
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COVID-19
HIV/AIDS
University of Ottawa
Presentations
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Dec 2023
Human Rights Challenges in Global Health Governance
Watch →
COVID-19
Global Health and Welfare Forum in Taiwan
Presentations
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Nov 2023
Human Rights Challenges in Global Health Governance: Advancing Human Rights in Ongoing Global Health Law Reforms
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COVID-19
Civil Society Alliance for Human Rights in the Pandemic Accord
Presentations
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Oct 2023
Human Rights Concerns in the Pandemic Accord: Negotiating Draft
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COVID-19
MSF South Asia Health and Humanity Summit
Presentations
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Aug 2023
Bracing for Impact: Health and Humanitarian Responses in the Context of “Security Threats”
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COVID-19
Global Health Law Consortium / Geneva Summer Schools
Presentations
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Jun 2023
Global Health Law Summer School
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COVID-19
HIV/AIDS
Geneva Health Files
Public Engagement
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Jun 2023
Human Rights Challenges in the Pandemic Treaty Negotiations
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COVID-19
Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) Webinar Series
Presentations
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Mar 2023
Tobacco Undermines the Right to Health: State Cessation Obligations & International Accountability Mechanisms
Watch →
Tobacco Control & Environmental Health
Civil Society Alliance for Human Rights in the Pandemic Treaty
Publications
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Feb 2023
Human Rights Concerns in Zero Draft of the WHO CA+
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COVID-19
Brocher Foundation
Presentations
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Jan 2023
Concluding Workshop on Principles and Guidelines for Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies
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COVID-19
Opinio Juris
Public Engagement
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Dec 2022
Advancing Human Rights in Pandemic Treaty Debates
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COVID-19
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
Publications
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Nov 2022
Transcending the Gender Binary under International Law: Advancing Health-Related Human Rights for Trans* Populations
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Women's & Children's Health
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Publications
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Oct 2022
Climate Change, Public Health and Human Rights
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Tobacco Control & Environmental Health
JLME Transgender Health Equity and the Law Symposium
Presentations
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Oct 2022
Transcending the Gender Binary under International Law: Advancing Health-Related Human Rights for Trans* Populations
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Women's & Children's Health
UNC Health & Human Rights Lecture
Presentations
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Oct 2022
Realizing the Right to Health Through Health Care Technologies (Katharina Ó Cathaoir)
Watch →
BMJ
Publications
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Sep 2022
The Human Right to a Healthy Environment—Time for the Public Health Community to Take Urgent Action
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Tobacco Control & Environmental Health
Addiction
Publications
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Jul 2022
Could International Human Rights Obligations Motivate Countries to Implement Tobacco Cessation Support?
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Tobacco Control & Environmental Health
International Organizations Law Review
Publications
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Jun 2022
The World Health Organization, International Health Regulations and Human Rights Law
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COVID-19
HIV/AIDS
Forbes
Public Engagement
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Mar 2022
The World Watched Russia Bomb Ukraine’s Hospitals. What Happens Next?
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eClinicalMedicine
Publications
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Mar 2022
Where is the “Public” in American Public Health? Moving from Individual Responsibility to Collective Action
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COVID-19
U.S. Health Policy
Carolina Public Humanities
Public Engagement
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Mar 2022
Human Rights in Global Health Governance: Has WHO Risen to Meet the COVID-19 Challenge?
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COVID-19
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Publications
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Mar 2022
Human Rights as a Framework for Eliminating Female Genital Schistosomiasis
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Women's & Children's Health
Yearbook of International Disaster Law
Publications
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Feb 2022
Global Obligations to Ensure the Right to Health: Strengthening Global Health Governance to Realise Human Rights in Global Health
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COVID-19
Al Jazeera
Public Engagement
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Feb 2022
Human Rights in the COVID-19 Response
Watch →
COVID-19
Australian Journal of International Affairs
Publications
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Feb 2022
Global Health Governance through the UN Security Council: Health Security vs. Human Rights?
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HIV/AIDS
COVID-19
BMJ Global Health
Publications
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Nov 2021
COVID-19 Raises a Health & Human Rights Imperative to Advance a UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons
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COVID-19
McGill Perspectives on Global Health
Public Engagement
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Nov 2021
Advancing Human Rights in Global Health through the Pandemic Treaty
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COVID-19
Opinio Juris
Public Engagement
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Nov 2021
Human Rights Must Guide a Pandemic Treaty
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COVID-19
Gillings School of Global Public Health
Public Engagement
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Nov 2021
Gillings Faculty, Students and Alumni Track Human Rights Effects of COVID-19 Response
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COVID-19
Triangle Global Health Consortium
Presentations
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Nov 2021
Human Rights Advocacy in an Evolving Global Health Landscape
Watch →
UNC Health & Human Rights Lecture
Public Engagement
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Nov 2021
The Impact of COVID-19 on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (Tlaleng Mofokeng)
Watch →
Women's & Children's Health
Health and Human Rights in the Climate Crisis
Presentations
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Oct 2021
Climate Change, Public Health & Human Rights
Watch →
Tobacco Control & Environmental Health
World Health Summit
Presentations
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Oct 2021
Periodic Reviews: A Game Changer for Accountability in Global Health?
Watch →
COVID-19
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Public Engagement
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Oct 2021
Meier receives APHA Mid-Career Award in International Health
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International Pandemic Lawmaking
Publications
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Oct 2021
The Pandemic Treaty as a Framework for Global Solidarity: Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations in Global Health Governance
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COVID-19
Global Health NOW
Public Engagement
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Oct 2021
Strengthen Monitoring of Attacks on Health Care to Uphold Public Health and Human Rights
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Yearbook of International Disaster Law Conference: Is International Disaster Law Protecting Us?
Presentations
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Oct 2021
Human Rights Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mainstreaming Human Rights in a Pandemic Treaty
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COVID-19
EClinicalMedicine
Publications
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Aug 2021
Your Health Is in Your Hands? US CDC COVID-19 Mask Guidance Reveals the Moral Foundations of Public Health
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COVID-19
U.S. Health Policy
Global Health Law Consortium
Public Engagement
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Jul 2021
Decolonising Human Rights in Global Health
Watch →
COVID-19
BMJ Global Health
Publications
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Jul 2021
Decolonising Human Rights: How Intellectual Property Laws Result in Unequal Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine
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COVID-19
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
Publications
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Jun 2021
Strengthening Human Rights in Global Health Law: Lessons from the COVID-19 Response
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COVID-19
Health & Human Rights Journal
Publications
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Jun 2021
Monitoring Attacks on Health Care as a Basis to Facilitate Accountability for Human Rights Violations
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Health & Human Rights Journal
Publications
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Jun 2021
Dissident Blood: Using Critical Feminist Study to Advance the Health and Human Rights of Menstruators (Book Review)
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Women's & Children's Health
OpinioJuris: In association with the International Commission of Jurists
Public Engagement
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Jun 2021
Reshaping Global Health Law in the Wake of COVID-19 to Uphold Human Rights
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COVID-19
World Health Assembly Side Event
Public Engagement
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May 2021
Strengthening Human Rights to Respond to Pandemic Threats
Watch →
COVID-19
Global Health Governance
Publications
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May 2021
Global Health Justice as a Foundation for the Future of Global Health Governance
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Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Publications
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May 2021
Background Paper 11: Human Rights Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic
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COVID-19
Maternal Health Innovations Program
Presentations
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Apr 2021
Rights-Based Approaches to Maternity Care
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Women's & Children's Health
BMJ Global Health
Publications
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Apr 2021
Using the COVID-19 Pandemic to Reimagine Global Health Teaching in High-Income Countries
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COVID-19
Lancet Global Health
Publications
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Mar 2021
Human Rights in Domestic Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Preliminary Findings from a Media-Coverage Database to Track Human Rights Violations
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COVID-19
Global Public Health
Publications
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Mar 2021
Book Review: The Uncounted: Politics of Data in Global Health
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Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Presentations
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Mar 2021
Human Rights Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic
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COVID-19
Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame
Presentations
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Feb 2021
Are we all in this together? Assessing and addressing equitable access and distributive justice in global supply chains during major disease outbreaks.
Watch →
COVID-19
OpinioJuris: In association with the International Commission of Jurists
Public Engagement
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Feb 2021
Harmonizing Global Health Law and Human Rights Law to Develop Rights-Based Approaches to Global Health Emergencies
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COVID-19
Forbes
Public Engagement
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Feb 2021
We Can Use The Pandemic To Reimagine Global Health Teaching
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COVID-19
Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law: The Future of Global Health Governance
Presentations
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Jan 2021
The Role of International Organizations in Global Health Governance
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COVID-19
Health and Human Rights Journal
Publications
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Dec 2020
Health and Human Rights in the New American Administration
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U.S. Health Policy
Doughty Street Chambers
Presentations
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Dec 2020
UK launch of “Foundations of Global Health and Human Rights”
Watch →
Health and Human Rights Journal
Publications
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Dec 2020
Analyzing the Human Rights Impact of Increased Digital Public Health Surveillance during the COVID-19 Crisis
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COVID-19
UNC Research
Public Engagement
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Dec 2020
Setting a Field Alight
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UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health: Gillings School News
Public Engagement
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Nov 2020
AJPH editorial: Populism threatens the public health response to COVID-19
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COVID-19
American Journal of Public Health
Publications
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Oct 2020
Populist Nationalism Threatens Health & Human Rights in the COVID-19 Response
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COVID-19
American Public Health Association Annual Meeting
Presentations
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Oct 2020
Multisector human rights collaboration in the global fight to end obstetric violence
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Women's & Children's Health
American Public Health Association Annual Meeting
Presentations
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Oct 2020
Analyzing the human rights impacts of national pandemic responses
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COVID-19
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
Publications
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Oct 2020
Facilitating Access to a COVID-19 Vaccine through Global Health Law
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COVID-19
BMJ Global Health
Publications
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Sep 2020
Health and Human Rights Are Inextricably Linked in the COVID-19 Response
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COVID-19
Lancet Public Health
Publications
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Sep 2020
The Shibboleth of Human Rights in Public Health
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Health & Human Rights Journal
Publications
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Aug 2020
Human Rights Must Be Central to the International Health Regulations
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COVID-19
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health: Gillings School News
Public Engagement
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Aug 2020
Public health education needs a human rights focus
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OUPblog
Public Engagement
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Aug 2020
Human Rights Must Be the Foundation of any COVID-19 Response
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COVID-19
UNC College of Arts & Sciences
Public Engagement
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Aug 2020
Bookmark This: Benjamin Mason Meier
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Health & Human Rights Journal
Public Engagement
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Aug 2020
Tlaleng Mofokeng: Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health
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Foundations of Global Health & Human Rights
Publications
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Jul 2020
The Emergence of “New” Health-Related Human Rights: Recognizing the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation
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Water & Sanitation
Lancet
Publications
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May 2020
The Right to Health Must Guide Responses to COVID-19
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COVID-19
Universal Rights Group
Public Engagement
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May 2020
Realizing the Right to Health Must be the Foundation of the COVID-19 Response
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COVID-19
Gillings School of Global Public Health
Publications
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Apr 2020
Human Rights Play a Critical Role in the Development of COVID-19 Health Policies
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COVID-19
Infectious diseases in the New Millennium: Legal and Ethical Challenges
Publications
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Mar 2020
Rights-Based Approaches to Preventing, Detecting, and Responding to Infectious Disease Outbreaks
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COVID-19
HIV/AIDS
Indiana Health Law Review
Publications
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Feb 2020
Advancing the Human Right to Health: Eleanor Kinney’s Seminal Contributions to the Development and Implementation of Human Rights for Public Health
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U.S. Health Policy
Health & Human Rights Journal
Publications
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Jan 2020
Human Rights in Global Health Governance
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Health & Human Rights Journal
Public Engagement
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Jan 2020
Human Rights Education Must Become Central to the Health Curriculum
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Health & Human Rights Journal
Publications
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Dec 2019
Human Rights for Health across the United Nations
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Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Presentations
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Nov 2019
Global Health Advancement through Human Rights Accountability: A Public Health Imperative for Human Rights Research
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Global Health Governance Training Program, Duke University
Presentations
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Nov 2019
Human Rights in Global Health Governance
Watch →
BMJOpinion
Public Engagement
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Oct 2019
Urgent Call for Human Rights Guidance on Diets and Food Systems
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American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California
Presentations
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Oct 2019
Doomed to Repeat the Mistakes of the Past?: The Post-2015 Agenda and the Neglect of Human Rights for Global Health
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Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
Publications
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Sep 2019
Ending the Abuse: The Human Rights Implications of Obstetric Violence and the Promise of Rights-Based Policy to Realize Respectful Maternity Care
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Women's & Children's Health
Brocher Alumni Conference, Brocher Foundation, Hermance, Switzerland
Presentations
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Jun 2019
Employing Human Rights to Advance Global Health
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Public Health, Mental Health and Mass Atrocity Prevention Workshop, Cardozo Law School
Presentations
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Jun 2019
Global Health Governance to Protect Health Care Systems in Times of Conflict: Evolving World Health Organization Efforts to Document Assaults on Health Personnel and Facilities
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Health Law Professors Conference, Loyola Law School, Chicago, Illinois
Presentations
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Jun 2019
Comparative Research on Human Rights Law in Global Health Governance
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University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Presentations
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Apr 2019
South Africa’s Role in Informing Health and Human Rights
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University of Miami, Miami, Florida
Presentations
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Apr 2019
Global Health & Human Rights
Watch →
Consortium of Universities for Global Health, Chicago, Illinois
Presentations
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Mar 2019
Human Rights in Global Health: Rights-Based Governance for a Globalizing World
Watch →
BMC Infectious Diseases
Publications
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Mar 2019
Sexual Health and Human Rights: Protecting Rights to Promote Health
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Women's & Children's Health
Brocher Foundation, Hermance, Switzerland
Presentations
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Dec 2018
Human Rights Treaty Bodies: Monitoring, Interpreting & Adjudicating Health-Related Human Rights
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UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Public Engagement
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Dec 2018
Human Rights Day 2018: Human Rights are a Public Health Issue
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Benjamin Mason Meier JD, LLM, PhD
About
Academic Fields
Global Health Governance
Health & Human Rights
Global Health Law
Health Topics
COVID-19
HIV/AIDS
Tobacco Control & Environmental Health
U.S. Health Policy
Water & Sanitation
Women's & Children's Health