On June 4, 2025, the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) launched its new Legal Action Guide in a webinar attended by more than 100 partners and collaborators from around the globe. This Guide is a companion to GHAI’s Advocacy Action Guide and is designed to highlight step-by-step approaches to key legal strategies, coupled with more than a dozen case studies to illustrate how these strategies are successfully activated. While lawyers may be needed to execute the strategies, the Guide is written to be accessible for lawyers and non-lawyers to identify the key flags and considerations to ensure effective use of the law to advance and protect public health.
Specifically, the Guide equips advocates with tools to:
- Analyze legal and political contexts to identify the most feasible and effective legal strategies,
- Develop robust evidence-based laws and regulations and
- Use strategic litigation to advance public health outcomes and to hold health-harming industries accountable.
Analyze
The first chapter of the Guide walks advocates through a comprehensive legal review and stakeholder mapping to identify the best legal strategy to deploy. As part of this process, advocates are encouraged to (1) identify existing laws relevant to the public health issue and the gaps that need to be addressed, (2) understand procedural and access rules, such as opportunities for civil society engagement in regulatory process and (3) identify potential champions and opponents in both the public and private sectors.
For example, in Colombia, GHAI partner CAJAR used the country’s Freedom of Information law to reveal that three lawmakers who delayed food policy implementation had received campaign contributions from affected companies. This evidence was pivotal in a constitutional challenge to address a gap in Colombia’s conflict of interest law that permitted this conduct.
Draft
The second chapter shows advocates how to translate their public health objectives into effective legal instruments. Key steps include:
- Selecting the appropriate legal instrument, for example, a law or regulation,
- Justifying the policy with evidence,
- Including implementation and enforcement mechanisms and
- Anticipating legal risks, such as constitutional or trade challenges.
These considerations are showcased in a coalition amicus brief supporting Puebla’s Mobility and Road Safety Law before the Mexican Supreme Court. The brief demonstrated the robustness of the law by showing how it met constitutional requirements and was necessary to meet the State’s international obligations to protect public safety and health.
Litigate
Recognizing that public health policies often face resistance and that health-harming industries have externalized costs to the government and individuals, the Guide’s third chapter emphasizes the role of strategic litigation—defined as the intentional use of legal processes to achieve broader societal change, in this case, public health objectives or industry accountability. Strategic litigation can compel governments to act; divorce industry from government and policymaking; increase public awareness and make health-harming industries pay for the damage they cause to human and planetary health.
The Guide provides a step-by-step set of considerations to ensure effective litigation planning, including choosing the right legal claims and timing; gathering robust evidence; identifying suitable plaintiffs and defendants; selecting the appropriate forum; building coalitions and mobilizing media and public support and preparing for likely opposition and counter-arguments.
Just one example of effective use of strategic litigation Colombian by civil society organization and partner Red Papaz’s constitutional action against the Ministry of Health for failing to implement front-of-package labeling on ultra-processed foods. The Court found that the government’s failure to act violated the right to health and information and ordered the adoption of robust evidence-based regulation. This case effectively demonstrated the state’s failure to act and compelled that action.
Assess
Finally, it is crucial to understand that legal advocacy is not a linear process. Continuous assessment is essential to adapt strategies and ensure effectiveness.
For example, advocacy may begin with a proactive case to compel government action as seen in the Red PaPaz example above. However, once a positive result in that case is achieved, advocates must turn their attention to drafting the most robust policy and ultimately defending it against industry challenge in defensive litigation if necessary.
Advocates should regularly revisit and refine their legal analysis and chosen actions to sustain momentum and maximize public health impact.
The Legal Advocacy Action Guide is available here in English, Spanish and French. Devex, in partnership with GHAI, also explored insights from our guide in a new blog post that you can read here. And watch the recap of the webinar below: