Groningen Centre for Health Law

As soon as Donald Trump began his second term as US President, he started taking steps that will cause serious harm to global public health. On the day of his inauguration for a second term, Trump took action to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO).

With WHO now seeing a dramatic reduction of funding, staff, and programming, low- and middle-income countries will be disproportionately impacted, as they will receive less financial and technical support for strengthening their health systems and health programs. This WHO support is desperately needed as health inequities rise across nations – in the control of infectious diseases and beyond.

De terugtrekking van de VS is uiteindelijk slecht voor de hele wereld. Minder steun voor de WHO betekent minder aandacht voor wereldwijde infectieziektebestrijding. Dit houdt bijvoorbeeld in: minder financiering en ondersteuning voor pandemische paraatheid – de voorbereiding van een land op de uitbraak van een infectieziekte.

On 16 October 2017, GHLG member Marlies Hesselman participated in an event on the new CEDAW General Recommendation on Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction in a Changing Climate. This two-part post is based on her commentary in response to the presentation of the Draft General Recommendation by CEDAW Committee member Hilary Gbedemah, and is published on the occasion of COP23 in Bonn.

This week during the WHO’s 70th World Health Assembly, GHLG member Ellen ‘t Hoen announced the launch of the new website, ‘Medicines Law & Policy’, established with colleagues Pascale Boulet and Kaitlin Mara, all experts in intellectual property and access to medicines. ML&P provides expertise in the form of policy and legal analyses, best practice models, and other information to work toward the goal of ensuring the availability of effective, safe, and affordable medicines for all.

In the following video, Simons joins Voices in the Field* to discuss his time working in a Sudanese refugee camp and with Romanian political prisoners, and to share one important message with colleagues and decision makers.

At the time of writing there is a remarkable case pending in the Netherlands concerning the effects of air pollution on the health of the population. Two foundations and 57 individual plaintiffs have launched a case against the Dutch State in which they ask the court to order the State to reduce air pollution below the European maxima to the norms set in the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on air quality. If the case is successful, this will have significant consequences for the government as it will be ordered to protect the health of its citizens in a more effective manner by improving air quality. What are the chances of the plaintiffs succeeding in winning the case?

On 8 and 9 October 2015 several GHLG members participated in a symposium on ‘Equitable access to controlled medicine: between drug control and human rights in post-market access in low- and middle income countries’ (co-organized by Marie Elske Gispen, Utrecht University).

on November 9th, 2015 the Court of First Instance in The Hague took a decision in the case concerning the close ties between the Dutch Government and the tobacco industry.

More than twenty international law and global health experts have adopted a consensus statement on responses to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) at the end of an expert meeting in The Hague on 22 September 2015.