Justice, Solidarity, and Global Health (PDF)

by Peter West-Oram

Articulating a call for justice in the context of global health, this fascinating book responds to the uncertainties, inequalities, and conflicts highlighted through the COVID-19 pandemic by arguing that everyone, no matter where they live, is entitled to at least a basic level of healthcare.
Moreover, this entitlement generates a range of duties that all persons have obligations to fulfil. Grounded in Henry Shue’s “basic rights” framework, this book explores what we must do individually and collectively to meet the needs of, and fulfil our responsibilities to, other people. Examining the individual, public, and global health consequences of excluding certain people through a rigid enforcement of narrowly defined group boundaries, it illustrates the uneven global distribution of the vital health goods while highlighting the close epidemiological and economic relationships that exist between even distant persons. This book thus offers both an ethical and deeply practical response to the complex challenges of our increasingly globalised world.
Erudite and important, this is a book that will interest students and scholars across disciplines, from Public Health to Philosophy to Bioethics to International Relations.