Журнал. World association for medical law. The COVID-19 pandemic. Volume 39 2

207 Medicine and Law 3. Affordability - economic accessibility 4. Acceptability - sensitive to culture, gender and life-cycle requirements 5. Assurance of quality - skilled healthcare personnel, quality healthcare facilities, evidence-based healthcare practice and safety With regard to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, what should constitute the rights of health for our citizens? Gostin’s work, in global health justice, elucidates the key determinants of global health equity 5 and how they can help citizens around the globe against COVID -19. What are the Essential Public Health Services for COVID-19? Effective Public Health Interventions for Infection Control The epidemiological triangle of the three main factors - agent, environment and host in the pathogenesis of communicable disease 6 - explain why there is a need to implement rigorous preventive measures to contain the infectious agent and establish environments inhibiting the spread of infection to prevent outbreak of communicable diseases. Measures, such as face mask wearing, 7 hand hygiene, 8 physical distancing, restriction of social gathering and ‘shut down’ measures 9 are effective precautionary measures against influenza and respiratory infections. Prem et al. have highlighted that the implementation of physical measures has a strong potential to reduce the peak magnitude of COVID-19 and lead to a decreased number of cases. Cautions must be taken when lifting these physical measures prematurely, as it could lead to a 5 Gostin L.O. (2014). Global Health Justice. In Gostin (Ed) Global Health Law. Harvard: USA. The key determinants of health justice can be broadly categorized into five key areas: essential public health services, good governance, human rights, universal health system, social determinants of health, 6 Mansner JS, Kramer S (1985). Epidemiology: an introductory text 2 nd edn. Philadelphia: Saunders.. 7 Offeddu V, Yung CF, Low MSF, Tam CC (2017). Effectiveness of Masks and Respirators Against Respiratory Infections in Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta- Analysis. Clin Infect Dis, 65(11), 1934-1942. doi: 10.1093/cid/cix681. 8 Warren-Gash C, Fragaszy E, Hayward AC (2013). Hand hygiene to reduce community transmission of influenza and acute respiratory tract infection: a systematic review. Influenza Other Respir Viruses . 7 (5), 738–749. doi:10.1111/irv.12015 9 Prem K, Liu Y, Russell TW, et al (2020). The effect of control strategies to reduce social mixing on outcomes of the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan, China: a modelling study. Lancet Public Health, 5, e261-270. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667 (20)30073-6 (access 11 May 2020)