General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3269 |
| Course name: | Legal Foundations for Global Health and Development |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | International trade and economic law |
| Prerequisites: | No |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
| Cap on student numbers: | 15 |
1.2 Course description
This course introduces students to the legal foundations of global health and development. It examines the legal architecture of global health governance, the interplay between global health and international human rights law, international economic law, and international environmental law, and the analysis of several core global health legal instruments such as Constitution of the World Health Organization, the International Health Regulations (2005), the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the context of global mental health. Real-life examples, including those that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis, are used to illuminate the many dilemmas that confront the law as it regulates global health and development, like the perceived tensions between international health and individual liberties, human and planetary interests, and physical and mental for health.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Eric Ip | ericcip@hku.hk | CCT 705 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Students will be able to acquaint themselves with basic concepts of global health law, international moves towards a right to global health, the fundamental human right of access to basic medical services, national and coordinated international responses to and the management of global health hazards, the socio-legal management of and legal responses to risky behaviours.
CLO 2 Students will be able to understand the role of international law, treaties and instruments touching on global health concerns, and how international law operates, and how it is different from national law.
CLO 3 Students will be able to understand the constitution, function, role and effectiveness of key international global health organizations such as the United Nations, World Health Organization and so on. Through case studies of selected examples on key pressing current issues such as national and international responses to SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika and COVID-19, as well as an assessment of the state of national and international preparedness for highly-pathogenic future pandemics and the effectiveness of public health measures such as that for tobacco control, understand what role national and international law can play, as well as of the limitations of both national and international law.
CLO 4 Students will be able to familiarize themselves with International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), as well as of their impact through examining responses of the various IHR Emergency Committees, as well as through an assessment of the relationships between international health organisations such as the WHO and national agencies.
CLO 5 Students will be able to make a case for the argument for basic medical services as a fundamental human right, particularly in the context of the links between health access on the one hand and economic and social development and social stability of developing countries on the other.
2.2 LLB Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llb-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Essay | TBC | 50% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Final exam | TBC | 50% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/