02542nas a2200301   4500000000100000008004100001260003700042100001400079700001300093700001900106700002400125700001300149700001300162700001200175700001600187700001300203700001300216700001000229700001300239700001700252700001600269245012700285856010900412300000900521490000600530520169000536022001402226       2024                            d  bPublic Library of Science (PLoS)1 aGostin LO1 aMeier BM1 aAbdool Karim S1 aBueno de Mesquita J1 aBurci GL1 aChirwa D1 aFinch A1 aFriedman EA1 aHabibi R1 aHalabi S1 aLee T1 aToebes B1 aVillarreal P1 aKondreddy S00aThe World Health Organization was born as a normative agency: Seventy-five years of global health law under WHO governance  uhttps://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0002928&type=printable  a1-160 v43 a<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) was born as a normative agency and has looked to global health law to structure collective action to realize global health with justice. Framed by its constitutional authority to act as the directing and coordinating authority on international health, WHO has long been seen as the central actor in the development and implementation of global health law. However, WHO has faced challenges in advancing law to prevent disease and promote health over the past 75 years, with global health law constrained by new health actors, shifting normative frameworks, and soft law diplomacy. These challenges were exacerbated amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as states neglected international legal commitments in national health responses. Yet, global health law reforms are now underway to strengthen WHO governance, signaling a return to lawmaking for global health. Looking back on WHO’s 75th anniversary, this article examines the central importance of global health law under WHO governance, reviewing the past successes, missed opportunities, and future hopes for WHO. For WHO to meet its constitutional authority to become the normative agency it was born to be, we offer five proposals to reestablish a WHO fit for purpose: normative instruments, equity and human rights mainstreaming, sustainable financing, One Health, and good governance. Drawing from past struggles, these reforms will require further efforts to revitalize hard law authorities in global health, strengthen WHO leadership across the global governance landscape, uphold equity and rights at the center of global health law, and expand negotiations in global health diplomacy.</p>
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