Lawrence Gostin publishes Global Health Law

The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, a member of the Health and Human Rights Consortium, shares the following update about a new book from Lawrence O. Gostin. 

Georgetown University Law Center Professor and internationally acclaimed health scholar, Lawrence O. Gostin, offers a definitive work on a burgeoning field with his new book, Global Health Law (Harvard University Press). It published March 31, 2014.

In a world rife with staggering health inequalities between rich and poor, Gostin establishes the need for effective global governance for health, and offers a blueprint for reform based on the principle that the opportunity to live a healthy life is a basic human right. He wrote Global Health Law with the beginning student, advanced researcher and informed public in mind, and intends the book to serve as a foundational resource for teaching, advocacy and public discourse.

Paul Farmer, leading medical anthropologist and Harvard Medical School professor, says Global Health Law is “more than the definitive book on a dynamic field. Gostin harnesses the power of international law and human rights as tools to close unconscionable health inequities — the injustices that burden marginalized populations throughout the world. Gostin presents a forceful vision, one that deserves a wide embrace.”

Michele Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS, says, “The fusion of human rights and social movements is a powerful theme running throughout [Gostin’s] absorbing book. Global Health Law shines a light on the inspiration of the AIDS movement, bringing the ingenuity of civil society to achieve health justice for all.”

Edwin Cameron, Justice of the South African Constitutional Court, says, “Gostin’s book is rich in scholarship, and inspiring in its generous spirited reach.”

Gostin is University Professor and Founding Linda D. and Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law at Georgetown Law, where he directs the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences. His previous books include Public Health Law and Ethics: A Reader (University of California Press, 2^nd ed., 2010); Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint (University of California Press, 2^nd ed. 2008); and Principles of Mental Health Law & Practice (Oxford University Press, 2010).