By Cecile de Villiers South Africa is considered the most unequal country in the world, with stagnant economic growth and staggeringly high unemployment. More than five million or 31.2% of workers in South Africa find economic opportunities in the “informal economy,” often because there are fewer barriers (training, skills, regulation) to entering the sector. Informal…
This post launches a new Digital Symposium, Climate Change and Health: Mobilizing Public International Law into Action by Guest Editors Thalia Viveros Uehara and Alicia Ely Yamin. Check back for more posts twice a week! The election of Donald J. Trump, who has called climate change a “hoax” and in his prior administration pulled the…
By Jessica Samuels For 100 years, food fortification, the practice of deliberately increasing the content of vitamins and minerals in a food, has been essential to combating public health crises. However, these practices have continued into the modern era. Because overconsumption of nutrients has been linked to toxicity and diseases, public health officials should continue…
By Alice Bryk Silveira The alarming rise in diabetes and obesity rates in the United States has placed significant strain on health care systems and poses a serious public health threat. Americans’ overconsumption of ultra-processed foods high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats is a concerning contributor. Globally, poor nutrition from such dietary habits plays…
The Petrie-Flom Center is welcoming four new affiliated researchers to the Global Health and Rights Project (GHRP).
By Michael R. Ulrich Many advocates, legal scholars, and public health researchers concerned about the gun violence epidemic in the United States have viewed the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment doctrine as the greatest barrier to reform. A rare victory for the government, announced at the end of the 2023 Supreme Court term, may signal a…
By Claudia E. Haupt In addition to the conflict between free speech and public health in connection with social media, the role of social media as a public health hazard in itself has gained attention. Social Media’s Public Health Harms In a New York Times essay published on June 17, 2024, the Surgeon General proposed…
By Claudia E. Haupt Social media is the new public health battleground. Three current examples highlight the building clash between free speech and public health playing out in connection with social media: the rapid spread of health mis- and disinformation on social media; the extent to which public health officials can influence social media’s role…
By Barbara Pfeffer Billauer Legal pundits are predicting the imminent demise (or at least substantial enfeeblement) of the Chevron doctrine. Until recently, that case afforded substantial judicial deference to decisions made by administrative agencies if a statutory provision under its purview was ambiguous. Now two cases are before the Supreme Court challenging an agency interpretation…
By Elaine Marshall, Isabel Geisler, L. Virginia Martinez, Krystal Abbott, and Katherine Hazen Social drivers of health (SDOH), sometimes known as the social determinants of health, are factors in the social environment that shape individual and population health, including poverty, racism, housing, education, and employment. When judges decide cases that impact these social factors, their…
