ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how law and technology can affect global health policy implementation, using open source software (OSS) as a detailed example to highlight some of the issues. It provides some examples of how the use of OSS has influenced global public health crises such as the earthquake in Haiti and the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The terms “global health law” or “international health law” refer to the body of law derived from various legal and policy instruments such as treaties, guidelines, and regulations that affect many aspects of global health. Global health initiatives can leverage the power of OSS to make public health tools accessible to diverse populations, including resource-limited settings that are often the hardest hit populations. The use of OSS has gained increasing popularity in large-scale commercial software and web-based projects. The transparency of OSS and the ability to improve upon the software are reasons many consider it more secure.
