Public Health and Sustainable Development

The course purports to offer an advanced analysis of selected issues concerning public health and sustainable development from the perspective of public international law. In particular, the course aims at:
- setting the international health law framework (norms and actors);
- exploring the synergies between the SDG no. 3 and the right to health;
- analyzing the rules aimed at managing epidemics;
- looking at the right to health "in action", through an analysis of high-profile lawsuits before international, regional and national courts;
- outlining the interplay between human right law and other rules of international law, including international trade law, in the field of health protection

By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- have familiarity with public health governance at the international level;
- have advanced knowledge of the right to health under international human rights law;
- understand and evaluate critically the solutions given in high-profile health-related cases before international, regional and national courts;
- assess the interplay between human right law and other rules of international law, including international trade law;
- learn how to read and interpret complex health-related decisions adopted by international courts, such as the European Court of Human Rights, the International Court of Justice and the WTO DSBs
- acquire and use written and oral communication skills as regards the issues dealt with in the course and use them to build solid legal arguments using appropriate legal concepts and language
- develop a method of independent research and study of the topics dealt with in the course, by learning how to search and use primary sources, case-law, and scholarship.