Globalisation and the Future of Health Law: Harmonisation or Diversity?

This paper traces health law’s development from the emergence of health law at a national level to the increasingly globalised health law that is evident today. From its earliest stages, the themes of recognising rights and managing risks have been constant features of health law debate. More recently, globalisation has become an important theme for health law, adding new elements to the debates over rights and risks, as well as highlighting new areas for analysis. International human rights law an global public health have, for example, both become important aspects of contemporary health law. In this context, it is no longer sufficient for health law to have a purely national focus. Analysing these trends in the development of health law, this paper considers the future development of health law and whether the trend towards globalisation will lead to greater harmonisation or greater diversity.