Law Everywhere A Causal Framework for Law and Infectious Disease

• Published in: Public health reports (1974) Vol. 135; no. 1S; pp. 25S - 31S
• Main Authors: Siegler, Aaron J., Komro, Kelli A., Wagenaar, Alexander C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications, Inc 01.07.2020; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Commentary; Communicable Disease Control - legislation & jurisprudence; Democracy; Disease transmission; Epidemiology; Health Behavior; Health Equity - legislation & jurisprudence; Health Policy - legislation & jurisprudence; Hepatitis; Hepatitis - prevention & control; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infectious diseases; Law; Public health; Public Health - legislation & jurisprudence; Sexually transmitted diseases; Sexually Transmitted Diseases - prevention & control; Social Determinants of Health - legislation & jurisprudence; Socioeconomic Factors; STD; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis - prevention & control; social determinants of health; public health law research; legal epidemiology; policy evaluation
• ISSN: 0033-3549; 1468-2877
• DOI: 10.1177/0033354920912991

This supplement on HIV, hepatitis, sexually transmitted disease, and tuberculosis is timely and important because it highlights the many ways that law, regulation, and institutional policy affect the incidence and prevalence of infectious disease. Law is a causal factor that deserves careful scientific research attention, not only because it is central to understanding disease variation across time and space, but also because law is, importantly, a malleable cause. “Law” has many meanings, but for purposes of this article is defined as a set of rules developed and enforced by government. In a democracy, we collectively create the law and, in so doing, we create the conditions that affect public health, including fostering or impeding the spread of infectious disease. In this commentary, we briefly review the notable ties between law and public health and then present a version of our previously proposed causal framework of law’s impact on population health, now adapted to infectious disease. We then discuss current research in law and infectious disease in light of the causal framework and describe areas for future consideration.