Interdependent Determinants of Health and Death? Examining the Linkages between Health Equity, Human Rights, and Democracy during COVID-19.

The pandemic has illustrated how rights-violating, negligent, and inequitable political leadership can deeply determine health outcomes. It has equally shown how democratic norms and institutions, including human rights and equity, offer discourse, standards, and tools that can be effectively used to challenge inequitable leadership on health. More fundamentally, it underscores how great the need is for approaches to public health emergencies rooted in human rights, equity, and good governance, including through a pandemic treaty in negotiation.