Every year nine million people are diagnosed with tuberculosis, every day over 13,400 people are infected with AIDs, and every thirty seconds malaria kills a child. For most of the world, critical medications that treat these deadly diseases are scarce, costly, and growing obsolete, as access to first-line drugs remains out of reach and resistance rates rise. Rather than focusing research and development on creating affordable medicines for these deadly global diseases, pharmaceutical companies instead invest in commercially lucrative products for more affluent customers. Nicole Hassoun argues that everyone has a human right to health and to access to essential medicines, and she proposes the Global Health Impact (global-health-impact.org/new) system as a means to guarantee those rights. Her proposal directly addresses the pharmaceutical industry's role: it rates pharmaceutical companies based on their medicines' impact on improving global health, rewarding highly-rated medicines with a Global Health Impact label. Global Health Impact has three parts. The first makes the case for a human right to health and specifically access to essential medicines. Hassoun defends the argument against recent criticism of these proposed rights. The second section develops the Global Health Impact proposal in detail. The final section explores the proposal's potential applications and effects, considering the empirical evidence that supports it and comparing it to similar ethical labels. Through a thoughtful and interdisciplinary approach to creating new labeling, investment, and licensing strategies, Global Health Impact demands an unwavering commitment to global justice and corporate responsibility.

About the Author
Nicole Hassoun is Professor of Philosophy at Binghamton University and Visiting Scholar at Cornell University. She co-directs the Institute for Justice and Well-Being and is affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Bioethics and Health Law. She is the author of Globalization and Global Justice (Cambridge University Press 2012), and has published widely in journals including American Philosophical Quarterly, Journal of Development Economics, PLoS One, The European Journal of Philosophy, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and The Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

Reviews
This important interdisciplinary book will be well received by its target audience of scholars with at least working knowledge of rights-based ethics and health policy. * R. F. White, CHOICE *
Global Health Impact is an excellent exploration of core issues in global health ethics and proof of concept for the scientifically rigorous, policy-oriented philosophy and philosophically-informed policy Nicole Hassoun champions therein. The book builds on more than a decade of Hassoun's important philosophical and empirical work on health/healthcare ethics and politics and contributes to multiple fields, including ethics, political philosophy, law, and public policy. Hassoun's arguments deserve close attention. * Michael Da Silva, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice *
In this highly impressive work Nicole Hassoun makes a compelling case for the human rights to health and to access essential medicines, arguing that consumers have responsibilities to purchase in ways that support such rights. She develops a sophisticated proposal through her Global Health Impact initiatives, which are strongly grounded in both theory and practice. A masterful blend of philosophical and empirical work, Global Health Impact shows how engaged philosophy can inform progressive policy in our contemporary world. * Gillian Brock, University of Auckland *
Global Health Impact reveals in gripping detail the human cost of inaccessible, unaffordable essential medicines. Everyone has an equal right to survive and to thrive, but our world isn't designed that way. Hassouns ideas are transformative. She tugs at our social conscience. She provides a powerful tool for social action. Want to understand why the worlds poor cant access essential medicines? Want a plan to secure health justice? Read Hassouns powerful book. * Lawrence Gostin, Georgetown University *
Nicole Hassoun addresses issues related to global justice, the right to health in general, and the right to essential medicine. She relates philosophical debates to policy, and makes policy debates theoretically coherent. She should be commended for a creative initiative and a willingness to come up with an interesting idea for how to improve access to essential drugs for the global poor. Her approach is interdisciplinary and engages well with people's growing interest in what individuals can do in response to global injustice. * Ole Frithjof Norheim, University of Bergen and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health *
This is a timely book on an important topic. It makes a significant contribution to the debate on ethics in global health by focusing on measuring the global health impact of different drugs, and the companies that produce them. Her claims are bold and well-argued. * Jonathan Wolff, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford *



Book Information
ISBN 9780197514993
Author Nicole Hassoun
Format Hardback
Page Count 318
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 635g
Dimensions(mm) 163mm * 236mm * 28mm