ABSTRACT
This chapter explores historical connections between epidemics, public health, and right to health thinking in three different time periods: the 1840s, the interwar period, and the post-1945 era. The first part views these connections through the lens of the influential German doctor Rudolf Virchow – a founder of social medicine and pathology – and looks at the place of human rights in his thinking. When it comes to the evolution of the international right to health, 1848 may be a more significant year than 1948. The second part looks at health in post-First World War social rights constitutionalism and in two significant, but undervalued human rights declarations produced by civil society movements between 1918 and 1945. This part illustrates variations in the right to health thinking already at this juncture but also the emphasis assigned to it in different political and geographical contexts before the emergence of international human rights through the United Nations. The third part focuses on the period after 1945. It outlines developments in this period that highlight the continued yet subtle influence of history and its relevance in the age of COVID-19.
