Health Law and Medical Ethics — All Publications

Re-Inventing Global Public Health in the Shadow of COVID-19: Decentring Intellectual Property in International Health Regulations (IHR) and the Pandemic Agreement for SDGs

Journal of Global Health Law
(Working Paper, Forthcoming)

Journal ArticleChidi OguamanamMay 18, 2026Health Law and Medical Ethics, COVID-19, IP and Knowledge Governance, WHO

Access to Covid-19 Vaccines: the Patent Freeze Proposal and a New Global Strategy

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently confirmed that Canada is involved in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) exploration of the Indian and South African proposal to waive intellectual property (IP) rights for COVID-19 vaccines.

Blog PostChidi OguamanamJuly 6, 2021COVID-19, Vaccine, Patent, WHO, South Korea, South Africa, European Union, Pharmaceutical, Health Law and Medical Ethics

Covid-19 Digital Health Innovations: The African Context

“Dealing with health and economic challenges of COVID-19 has made one point abundantly clear for African countries – that we need broadband, faster, cheaper and expanded to the last mile of the populations.”

Blog PostChidi OguamanamMarch 26, 2021COVID-19, Vaccine, Health Law and Medical Ethics, Technology, WHO, United Nations, Rwanda, Senegal, AI, Liberia, Digital Services, Africa

Vaccine certificates should not come at expense of other COVID priorities

Feb. 21, 2021: Israel introduced “green passes” – evidence of COVID-19 vaccination or presumed immunity after recovery from the disease. This certificate is also known as an immunity passport.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamMarch 17, 2021COVID-19, Vaccine, Health Law and Medical Ethics, WHO, Israel, Canada, Digital Services, United Nations

Canada: Tackling Vaccine Hesitancy Among Indigenous Peoples

Medical racism against Indigenous peoples is a fact in the Canadian healthcare system. As a result of this experience, many Indigenous peoples lack trust in the healthcare system, and they limit their engagement as much as possible.

Blog PostChidi OguamanamMarch 3, 2021COVID-19, Vaccine, Indigenous, Traditional Culture, Health Law and Medical Ethics, Politics, Canada

Africa's Unique Vulnerabilities Require a Different Pandemic Approach

Africa’s fate is precarious in the face of COVID-19. It is the last continent to be affected by COVID-19 following the arrival of the contagion in Egypt and Nigeria in February 2020.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamOctober 6, 2020Africa, WHO, COVID-19, Senegal, China, United Nations, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Health Law and Medical Ethics, Education

COVID-19 and Vaccine Nationalism: Africa’s Pathway to Access

Except perhaps South Africa, credible statistics on the extent of the COVID-19 infection in African countries are lacking. So far, African countries could not sustain two full months of lockdown.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamOctober 6, 2020Africa, WHO, Vaccine, COVID-19, Canada, R&D, Health Law and Medical Ethics

Expedited COVID-19 Research & Development: Indigenous Knowledge and ABS Imperative

With the world on edge as COVID-19 progresses, the scientific community has sprung into gear in search of an effective treatment. Amidst this development, traditional knowledge plays a significant role in scientific endeavours.

Blog PostChidi OguamanamJune 5, 2020COVID-19, Health Law and Medical Ethics, Madagascar, China, WHO, Costa Rica, IP and Knowledge Governance, Indigenous, Nagoya Protocol, Biotechnology, Politics, Canada

COVID-19: In the Shadow of Ebola, the Patent War to Come and a Forgotten Africa

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world continues to overlook the epidemic raging on in some of the poorest regions of Africa since 2013: the Ebola outbreak.

Blog PostChidi OguamanamMay 22, 2020Ebola, Africa, COVID-19, DRC, Médecins Sans Frontières, WHO, United Nations, Canada, Health Law and Medical Ethics, Guinea, Liberia, China, Costa Rica, Chile, Kenya, Pharmaceutical

COVID-19 and the Amazon: Indigenous Peoples, Conservation Under Threat

The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly having an effect on the human population around the world, but its impact on the environment, especially in terms of conservation, is less publicized.

Blog PostChidi OguamanamMay 15, 2020Amazon, Brazil, Agriculture and Biodiversity, Colombia, Africa, COVID-19, Indigenous, Technology, Health Law and Medical Ethics, South America, Vatican

Public Health, Africa, and COVID-19

As an African and a Canadian, I inhabit an observatory. I am a resident in two worlds of blunt contrasts. On a good note, those contrasts offer privileged lessons on the richness and complexity of the human experience, of our world.

Blog Post, Op-EdChidi OguamanamMarch 27, 2020Africa, Canada, Health Law and Medical Ethics, USA, China, Italy, Europe, Ebola, COVID-19, South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Politics

Re-Thinking Large Scale Agricultural Land Acquisition Through a Contract Model

The triumph of capitalism and its impact, post-cold war, is manifest in diverse ways and sites in the global south, especially Africa. Perhaps the most prominent consequence of the post-cold war capitalist strangle-hold is the phenomenon of globalization. In its legal and economic gradient, globalization has yielded unprecedented spate of legal harmonization and capitalist structuring, opening up of markets under the trade liberalization mantra.

Blog PostChidi OguamanamOctober 4, 2019Africa, IP and Knowledge Governance, International, USA, Agriculture and Biodiversity, Health Law and Medical Ethics