The evolution of the human right to medicines from HIV/AIDS to COVID-19

Lisa Forman

Chapter 13 in Research Handbook on Human Rights Law and Health, 2025, pp 312-331 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Global access to medicines and vaccines remains elusive despite being a focus of human rights, international policy, and a highly successful campaign during the 2000s. Affordability—which is deeply connected to intellectual property rights (IPR)—remains a core determinant of these disparities. Global disparities in access to COVID-19 vaccines reaffirmed the need to resolve the tensions between IPR, public health, and human rights, including through new pandemic international law. In this chapter, I use this backdrop to examine the emergence and evolution of a human right to medicines. First, I consider the emergence of this right in international human rights law. Second, I consider the TRIPS agreement and global medicines policies. Third, I consider COVID-19 vaccine disparities and the legal changes they have catalyzed in international law. Finally, I consider the challenges and pathways forward for realizing a fundamental human right to medicines.

Keywords: Human rights; Right to health; Access to medicines; Global health law; Trade-related intellectual property rights; Pandemics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781803928029
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