Roojin Habibi
Biographic Data
| ID | 1258332 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Roojin Habibi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Roojin |
| FAMILY NAME | Habibi |
| SIGNATURE | HABIBI R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Ottawa |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7948-0438 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
What is a Global Health Emergency and Who should decide? Africa CDC’s declaration of a “Public Health Emergency of Continental Security” in a Crisis-Ridden World
On August 14, 2024, the upsurge of mpox across more than a dozen African countries was declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). 1 As is often the case, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) director-general made this determination on the basis of advice tendered by an expert committee convened under the International Health Regulations (IHR)—the world’s only international agreement on public health emergency prevention…
The barriers and enablers of outbreak reporting in the Asia-Pacific region
Outbreak reporting is thought to be subject to technical, or capacity, barriers that physically hinder reporting and non-technical barriers, such as the threat of economic losses, that discourage governments from reporting. While technical barriers to reporting have been extensively explored, there is less evidence for the effects of non-technical barriers, particularly at the subnational level. To better understand the impact of both technical a…
National IHR authorities in the 2024 amendments to WHO’s International Health Regulations
box On 19 September 2025, amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) will take effect, introducing the requirement for national IHR authorities to coordinate implementation of the Regulations at the national level
Profit shifting from Nigeria to Europe
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone is entitled to economic and social rights essential to survive and thrive (Articles 25 and 26) and everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which their rights and freedom can be realised (Article 28). These rights must be ensured through national efforts and international cooperation (Article 22), but many millions of people worldwide do not access th…
The World Health Organization was born as a normative agency
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 prev…
‘Our project, your problem?’ A case study of the WHO’s mRNA technology transfer programme in South Africa
In June 2021 the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) launched an mRNA technology transfer programme. With a South African consortium serving as the hub, the programme aimed to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in view of the “vaccine apartheid” that was observed during COVID-19. Following Clarke’s “situational analysis,” the present study assessed whether the mRNA p…
Pandemics, intellectual property and ‘our economy’
Despite self-congratulatory rhetoric, Canada compromised COVID-19 vaccine equity with policies impeding a proposed global waiver of vaccine intellectual property (IP) rules. To learn from Canada's vaccine nationalism we explore the worldview - a coherent textual picture of the world - in a sample of Government of Canada communications regarding global COVID-19 vaccine sharing. Analysed documents portray risks and disparities as unrelated to the d…
The WHO’s 75th anniversary
The World Health Organisation (WHO) was inaugurated in 1948 to bring the world together to ensure the highest attainable standard of health for all. Establishing health governance under the United Nations (UN), WHO was seen as the preeminent leader in public health, promoting a healthier world following the destruction of World War II and ensuring global solidarity to prevent disease and promote health. Its constitutional function would be ‘to ac…
A critical juncture for human rights in global health
Fig 1), establishing a human rights foundation under the United Nations (UN), has become a cornerstone of global health, central to public health policies throughout the world
Between rules and resistance
In times of a public health emergency, lawyers and ethicists play a key role in ensuring that government responses, such as travel restrictions, are both legally and ethically justified. However, when travel bans were imposed in a broadly discriminatory manner against southern African countries in response to the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant in late 2021, considerations of law, ethics or science did not appear to guide politicians’ decisions. Rathe…
Revisiting the Legality of Travel Restrictions Under International Law During Covid-19
Under the International Health Regulations (IHR), States must consider decision-making criteria in applying travel restrictions during a public health emergency of international concern. Interpretation on the legal parameters of such restrictions varies widely. This article considers whether and how the permissibility of travel restrictions under the IHR may have changed given recent developments, including evolving scientific evidence about thei…
A virus unites the world while national border closures divide it
This article critically examines the use of national border closures at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. After explaining why targeted border closures generally do not work and how they violated international law at the time, we examine the unprecedented case of total border closures. Positing that since the current instruments and institutions of global health governance did not anticipate this phenomenon, the legality of total border closur…
Health and human rights are inextricably linked in the Covid-19 response
To mitigate the spread of COVID-19, governments throughout the world have introduced emergency measures that constrain individual freedoms, social and economic rights and global solidarity. These regulatory measures have closed schools, workplaces and transit systems, cancelled public gatherings, introduced mandatory home confinement and deployed large-scale electronic surveillance. In doing so, human rights obligations are rarely addressed, desp…
Conflicts of interest in neoliberal times
In this paper we report on the findings from six focus groups conducted with Australian medical students. The focus groups discussed students’ perceptions of conflicts of interest and the influence of commercial values in health care and medical education. Our research revealed that students were aware of a number of structural influences that affected the medical education they received and that had the potential to shape their attitudes and pra…
A virus unites the world while national border closures divide it
This article critically examines the use of national border closures at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. After explaining why targeted border closures generally do not work and how they violated international law at the time, we examine the unprecedented case of total border closures. Positing that since the current instruments and institutions of global health governance did not anticipate this phenomenon, the legality of total border closur…
Conflicts of interest in neoliberal times
In this paper we report on the findings from six focus groups conducted with Australian medical students. The focus groups discussed students’ perceptions of conflicts of interest and the influence of commercial values in health care and medical education. Our research revealed that students were aware of a number of structural influences that affected the medical education they received and that had the potential to shape their attitudes and pra…
Health and human rights are inextricably linked in the Covid-19 response
To mitigate the spread of COVID-19, governments throughout the world have introduced emergency measures that constrain individual freedoms, social and economic rights and global solidarity. These regulatory measures have closed schools, workplaces and transit systems, cancelled public gatherings, introduced mandatory home confinement and deployed large-scale electronic surveillance. In doing so, human rights obligations are rarely addressed, desp…
Between rules and resistance
In times of a public health emergency, lawyers and ethicists play a key role in ensuring that government responses, such as travel restrictions, are both legally and ethically justified. However, when travel bans were imposed in a broadly discriminatory manner against southern African countries in response to the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant in late 2021, considerations of law, ethics or science did not appear to guide politicians’ decisions. Rathe…
Revisiting the Legality of Travel Restrictions Under International Law During Covid-19
Under the International Health Regulations (IHR), States must consider decision-making criteria in applying travel restrictions during a public health emergency of international concern. Interpretation on the legal parameters of such restrictions varies widely. This article considers whether and how the permissibility of travel restrictions under the IHR may have changed given recent developments, including evolving scientific evidence about thei…
A virus unites the world while national border closures divide it
This article critically examines the use of national border closures at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. After explaining why targeted border closures generally do not work and how they violated international law at the time, we examine the unprecedented case of total border closures. Positing that since the current instruments and institutions of global health governance did not anticipate this phenomenon, the legality of total border closur…
The WHO’s 75th anniversary
The World Health Organisation (WHO) was inaugurated in 1948 to bring the world together to ensure the highest attainable standard of health for all. Establishing health governance under the United Nations (UN), WHO was seen as the preeminent leader in public health, promoting a healthier world following the destruction of World War II and ensuring global solidarity to prevent disease and promote health. Its constitutional function would be ‘to ac…
A critical juncture for human rights in global health
Fig 1), establishing a human rights foundation under the United Nations (UN), has become a cornerstone of global health, central to public health policies throughout the world
The World Health Organization was born as a normative agency
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 prev…
‘Our project, your problem?’ A case study of the WHO’s mRNA technology transfer programme in South Africa
In June 2021 the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) launched an mRNA technology transfer programme. With a South African consortium serving as the hub, the programme aimed to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in view of the “vaccine apartheid” that was observed during COVID-19. Following Clarke’s “situational analysis,” the present study assessed whether the mRNA p…
Pandemics, intellectual property and ‘our economy’
Despite self-congratulatory rhetoric, Canada compromised COVID-19 vaccine equity with policies impeding a proposed global waiver of vaccine intellectual property (IP) rules. To learn from Canada's vaccine nationalism we explore the worldview - a coherent textual picture of the world - in a sample of Government of Canada communications regarding global COVID-19 vaccine sharing. Analysed documents portray risks and disparities as unrelated to the d…
National IHR authorities in the 2024 amendments to WHO’s International Health Regulations
box On 19 September 2025, amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) will take effect, introducing the requirement for national IHR authorities to coordinate implementation of the Regulations at the national level
Profit shifting from Nigeria to Europe
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone is entitled to economic and social rights essential to survive and thrive (Articles 25 and 26) and everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which their rights and freedom can be realised (Article 28). These rights must be ensured through national efforts and international cooperation (Article 22), but many millions of people worldwide do not access th…
What is a Global Health Emergency and Who should decide? Africa CDC’s declaration of a “Public Health Emergency of Continental Security” in a Crisis-Ridden World
On August 14, 2024, the upsurge of mpox across more than a dozen African countries was declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). 1 As is often the case, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) director-general made this determination on the basis of advice tendered by an expert committee convened under the International Health Regulations (IHR)—the world’s only international agreement on public health emergency prevention…
The barriers and enablers of outbreak reporting in the Asia-Pacific region
Outbreak reporting is thought to be subject to technical, or capacity, barriers that physically hinder reporting and non-technical barriers, such as the threat of economic losses, that discourage governments from reporting. While technical barriers to reporting have been extensively explored, there is less evidence for the effects of non-technical barriers, particularly at the subnational level. To better understand the impact of both technical a…
Law (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Global Security and Public Health (7 works) · Global health (6 works) · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology (5 works) · Health care (5 works) · Human rights (5 works) · Medicine (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Public health (5 works)