How can we use the law to prevent chronic disease?
A new method of evaluating public health law, using case law to understand what happens when laws are tested in the real world, will help governments target more effective laws to protect population health and prevent unintended consequences. Download our Findings Brief PDF for a a summary of this project's key findings and relevance for policy.
Key messages
- Public health law is a valuable tool to improve population health, but sometimes laws fail to achieve what was originally intended.
- This PhD project developed a new method of evaluating public health law, by using case law to understand what happens when laws are tested in the real world.
- We found that judicial decisions in cases involving the development or licensing of liquor outlets, hotels, pubs and clubs usually favour industry and pro-competition considerations rather than public health.
- Using this method can help governments target laws to protect population health more effectively.
- We need more robust evaluation of public health law to see what works and whether there are unintended consequences, particularly for at-risk communities.
