An Intimate Conversation with Anand Grover: How Can We Achieve the Highest Attainable Standard of Health Even in the Face of Democratic Recession?

The USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health (IIGH) invites you to join us for “An Intimate Conversation with Anand Grover: How Can We Achieve the Highest Attainable Standard of Health Even in the Face of Democratic Recession?” on Monday, November 6, 2023 at 9:00 am PT/12:00 pm ET.

Anand Grover, designated Senior Advocate practicing in the Supreme Court of India, is the Director of the HIV/AIDS Unit of Lawyer’s Collective (India), and the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (2008-2014). In his regular practice, Grover has argued several landmark cases in the field of public interest and human rights law, including mass eviction cases (Olga Tellis & Ors v. Bombay Municipal Council), environmental cases (the Bhopal Gas Disaster case), and LGBT rights (Naz Foundation case). Grover has also done innovative work in the field of patent law, opposing the grant of patents for essential life-saving drugs. He successfully argued the first constitutional challenge to Section 3(d) of the Patents Act, 1970 on behalf of the Cancer Patient Aid Association in Novartis v. Union of India, the patent linkage case of Bayer v. Union of India and successfully defended against a challenge to the compulsory license issued for the manufacture of a kidney-cancer drug in Bayer v. Natco. During his time as the UN Special Rapporteur he focused his reports to promote non-discrimination, empower vulnerable groups and ensure meaningful participation of affected communities.

With due attention to the United States, India and other democratic governments, this dialogue will explore the many facets needed to achieve the highest attainable standard of health in a time of democratic recession and deteriorating liberal court systems with specific attention to the impacts of COVID-19 and access to medicines. 

Grover will bring important reflections, experience, and hope for the future of health and human rights. 

This conversation will be moderated by IIGH Policy Director Jonathan Cohen with opening remarks by IIGH Director Sofia Gruskin.

The webinar is hosted by the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health.

Please join us on Monday, November 6th at 9:00 am PT/12:00 pm ET.

Speaker:

Anand Grover is a designated Senior Advocate, practicing in the Supreme Court of India and the Director of the HIV/AIDS Unit of the Lawyer’s Collective (India). He is also a prominent global health rights advocate, having served as the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (Right to Health) from 2008-2014. He is a well-known advocate and activist on human rights. He is also a prominent animal rights advocate. 

Grover has been, for decades, the head of the HIV/AIDS Unit of the Lawyer’s Collective (India). In that capacity, he was involved in pivotal cases about the the rights of people living with HIV, rights of LGBT people in India, sex workers and drug users, challenges to mass evictions and the Bhopal Gas Disaster case. He also argued critical cases about India’s patent law, to ensure access to generic medicines, and has done work to challenge violence and discrimination against minority communities in India. He is currently defending prominent advocates and activists from Manipur who are being prosecuted for speaking up. He is also defending the activists charged under the terrorist laws in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case. 

He has spoken at national, regional, and international conferences. He also presented the Jonathan Memorial Lecture at Toronto Conference on HIV/AIDS. Mr. Grover has worked closely with UNAIDS on HIV-related rights and law issues for many years and has been a valuable resource for it. 

When Mr. Grover was the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health for a period of six years, he submitted eleven reports to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) and the UN General Assembly on i) TRIPS, Patents, FTAs and the Right to Health; ii) Informed Consent and the Right to Health, iii) Criminalization of HIV transmission, same sex relations and sex work and the Right to Health; iv) Criminalization of Drug use and the Right to Health; v) Development and Right to Health; vi) Elderly Persons and the Right to Health; vii) Right to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Criminalization; viii) Access to Medicines and the Right to Health; ix) Occupation Health; x) Health Financing and xi) Migration and Health. He has also undertaken nine countries missions, to Poland, Australia, Guatemala, Syria, Ghana, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Japan and submitted reports of his missions to the HRC. 

He is regular teacher at many academies, including the Indian National Judicial Academy and State judicial academies. He is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown Law Center, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.


Moderator:

Jonathan Cohen joined USC in 2021 as Director of Policy Engagement for the Institute on Inequalities in Global Health and Clinical Professor for the Division of Disease Prevention, Policy and Global Health at the Keck School of Medicine. An internationally recognized expert in health and human rights, Cohen joined USC from the senior leadership of the Open Society Foundations, where he directed the foundation’s $39M public health portfolio and chaired its leadership committee advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. In his sixteen years at Open Society, Cohen directed funding and advocacy efforts to promote health and human rights in over forty countries. His work is widely credited with helping to establish human rights norms and principles on issues including access to medicines, harm reduction, and palliative care. He is a 2022-2023 Health and Aging Policy Fellow in the Office of U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD).