The Montevideo Roadmap 2018-2030: Promoting the need for Legal Intervention to Tackle Non-Communicable Diseases?

Abstract

Callum Ross describes recent declarations made by the World Health Organisation in the Montevideo Roadmap 2018-2030 and makes the case for a reinvigorated willingness to explore how law can be used as a tool to combat the severe risk that non-communicable diseases pose to society. He argues that the World Health Organisation are now encouraging governments to utilise legal instruments to tackle non-communicable diseases, which is the right approach to take. He examines the issues of free personal choice and the ‘nanny state’ argument in relation to the question of whether governments should implement stronger legal interventions to prevent the harm of non-communicable diseases.