Foundations of global health & human rights Edited by Lawrence O. Gostin and Benjamin Mason Meier Oxford University Press, 2020, 504 pp. ISBN: 9780197528297.

• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Author: Reviewed by Kristine Husøy Onarheim
• Date: 01 September 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.441

World Med. & Health Policy. 2022;14:611–612. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/wmh3

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DOI: 10.1002/wmh3.441

BOOK REVIEW

Foundations of global health & human rights

Edited by Lawrence O. Gostin and Benjamin Mason Meier

Oxford University Press, 2020, 504 pp. ISBN: 9780197528297.

As a scholar and medical doctor who teaches global health, including human rights,

I opened Foundations of Global Health & Human Rights with curiosity, hoping to find an

educational resource relevant to my own work, and that of students, researchers,

advocates, policymakers, and other global health practitioners. The edited volume offers a

convincing and in‐depth analysis of the interconnected and synergistic relationships

between global health and human rights.

“Health is a human right”is a noble and increasingly popular slogan (Ghebreyesus,

2018). But what does this mean in practice? Lawrence O. Gostin and Benjamin Mason

Meier's book answers this question.

The book outlines norms and principles underlying human rights (Section 1) and how

the right to health can be operationalized and implemented through international law

(Section 2). Transcending jargon and theory alone, descriptions of contemporary applica-

tions (Section 3) and challenges and threats to human rights (Section 4) show what realizing

the right to health entails. In casting health as a human right, the authors leverage how

international human rights are means to promote legal accountability and define what

governments must do to fulfill the right to health.

This is a timely, interdisciplinary, and forward‐looking edited volume, which provides a

historic backdrop to the field. Contemporary scholars and practitioners address issues

ranging from sexual and reproductive health and rights to global health and human rights in

the age of populism. With a clear and repeated call for global justice through human rights,

the text encourages student engagement and advocacy. The field of global health and

human rights has advanced considerably within the past few decades (Gostin et al., 2019),

but this is one of the first books to provide a foundational introduction to students. Unlike

some of the other books on human rights and health that I have come across, the content is

easy to understand. Each chapter builds upon the previous one and the text is supported by

interesting examples and engaging questions. The logically structured 18 chapters make

complex concepts and applications associated with different actors and organizations

involved with human rights in global health apprehensible. Further, the well‐written case

studies and theoretical analysis are excellent points of reference to academics and

practitioners within the field of global health and human rights alike.

The foundational volume draws upon insights and expertise from 36 leading global

health and human rights scholars, which are primarily based in high‐income settings. How

similar—or different—are their perspectives from views of human rights scholars and

frontline human rights defenders in other contexts? The overrepresentation of contributors

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© 2021 The Authors. World Medical & Health Policy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Policy Studies Organization.