General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6275 / JDOC6275 |
| Course name: | The Legal Foundations of Global Health and Development |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 9 credits / 6 credits |
| Cap on student numbers: | 35 |
1.2 Course description
This course will introduce students to 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 (including responses to emergent infections, epidemics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), addiction and substance abuse), the socio-legal management of and responses to risky behaviours (including STDs, addiction and substance abuse).
The course will also cover 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.
The constitution, function, role and effectiveness of key international global health organizations such as the United Nations, World Health Organization, UNICEF and the FAO will also be studied. Selected examples on key pressing current issues such as national and international responses to SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika and AMR, 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 will be examined through case studies.
Students will also be introduced to the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), and will examine responses of the various IHR Emergency Committees on Ebola, MERS-CoV, Zika virus, etc. The often-strained relationships between international health organisations such as the WHO and national agencies will be examined.
The argument for basic medical services as a fundamental human right will be examined, 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. The use of denial of medical services as a weapon of war will also be discussed.
In a similar context, equitable access to drugs and fair pricing will also be considered, as well as the role of intellectual property claims in the context of access to pharmaceutics.
Finally, the course will examine current moves both at the national and international levels for a coordinated public health response to noncommunicable diseases (including epidemic ‘lifestyle’ diseases such as diabetes and other NCDs which are metabolic disorders), and the role that national and international law can play in such responses.
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 (including responses to emergent infections, epidemics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), addiction and substance abuse), the socio-legal management of and legal responses to risky behaviours (including STDs, addiction and substance abuse).
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, UNICEF and the FAO. Through case studies of selected examples on key pressing current issues such as national and international responses to SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika and AMR, 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 on Ebola, MERS-CoV, Zika virus, etc, 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 LLM and JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link:
LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
JD – https://course.law.hku.hk/jd-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 |
| Class participation (including reflection papers) | TBC | 30% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Take home exam | TBC | 70% | 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 – 3.5 hours / week for 10 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 10 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/