During a side event held at its sixty-sixth meeting, the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific noted the important role that law plays in supporting healthier environments, products and behaviours.
"Law is essential to the protection of the public's health," said Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific,. "Law defines the powers and functions of health sector agencies, law also shapes the behaviour of individuals, communities and institutions. In fact, legal intervention has been at the centre of many great achievements in public health–such as the control of infectious diseases, motor-vehicle safety, tobacco control, and safer and healthier foods," he added.
Panel members discussed specific examples of good practice and challenges faced by their countries in the development and implementation of legal interventions in a range of health areas. Demonstrating the range of roles that law can play, they discussed issues of health workforce regulation and the protection of patient safety, the legal basis for health administration and decentralization, legal interventions to support the control of non-communicable diseases, and infectious disease control laws.
The importance of law in promoting the health of the public is being increasingly recognized. Countries in the Region are seeking information about trends and different approaches to the development and implementation of health laws. Further, challenges associated with the development and implementation of law—including lack of implementation, poor efficacy, and unintended impacts—are of increasing concern and need to be examined more closely.
The side event represented an important step forward in collaboration between countries in the Western Pacific Region and the provision of WHO in advancing the role of law in securing better health.