“Challenges of the global health governance system in the Covid-19 pandemic: contributions and alternatives to strengthen the commitment to global health law”, was the theme addressed by Professor Paula Wojcikiewicz Almeida, from the faculty by right of Rio de Janeiro Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV Direito Rio) at the Colloquium of the University of Montreal.
Under the theme “Is the WHO healthy?” Taking stock and looking ahead”, the international event was held on March 24 and opened by the Special Advisor to the Director General of the WHO, Peter Singer, bringing together several scholars in the field of international law and global health. The event took place virtually and brought together speakers from different countries.
The research, developed within the framework of the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence on EU-South America Global Governance, funded by the European Commission, is also part of an empirical research project developed in partnership with the Health Crossroads: Politics, Organizations and Law (H-Pod)transdisciplinary research laboratory of the “Canada Research Chair in the Design and Adaptation of Health Systems” (Pr. Jean-Louis Denis) and the “Canada Research Chair in Collaborative Culture in Health Law and Policy” ( Pr Catherine Regis), both from the University of Montreal.
The laboratory starts from a comparative analysis in eight countries to revisit the initial theoretical model of the normative effectiveness of the WHO. Several institutions are part of this joint effort: University of Montreal (Canada), FGV Direito Rio (Brazil), Universidad de Costa Rica (Costa Rica), University of Paris (France), Academic College of Law and Science in Hod Hasharon (Israel ), University of Otago (New Zealand), University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland) and O’Neill Institute (United States). At FGV Direito Rio, the project has the participation of researchers Lucas Thevenard, Gabriela Porto, Giulia Romay, Mariana Gouvea, Paula Flanzer and Eduardo Augusto.
The study presented was part of the panel entitled “Better understanding and amplifying the impact of the WHO: legal and professional perspectives”, moderated by Jean-Frédéric Légaré-Tremblay, consultant at the Center for International Studies and Research of the University of Montreal, and with the participation of Professor Catherine Régis and researcher Gaëlle Foucault, also from the University of Montreal. Other distinguished participants were Peter Singer (Special Adviser to the Director-General of WHO), Michèle Stanton-Jean (Former Deputy Minister of Health of Canada), Michael Pearson (Public Health Agency of Canada), Côme Bommier (French and Francophone for Medical Ethics), Richard Massé (former director of public health and representative of Quebec at the WHO for ten years at general assemblies), Patricia Fabi (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Ryoa Chung (Center for Studies and Research of the Universities of Montreal) and Louise Fréchette (Canadian diplomat and former Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations).
The research took into account the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which prompted latent reflections on the capacity of the global health system to respond adequately to pandemics and revealed the complex dynamics of the production of WHO regulations. and their implementation by Member States. According to Professor Paula: “The challenges facing the WHO in global health governance reinforce the need to rethink the theory of international organizations and the idea of functionalism. The complexity of the normative production process at the WHO deserves to be explored further, in particular through empirical research, so that we can speak of normative implementation by Member States”.
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