Legal regulation of cooperation in the field of health protection within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

The author examines the activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the field of coordination of the activities of the participating states in the field of public health protection. The author examines the current state of international legal regulation of cooperation in the field of health protection within the SCO through the prism of generally recognized international legal standards in this direction. The theoretical basis of the research is the works of M.V. Podvyaznikova, M.S.Malichenko, S. I. Pomazkova, N.Gafurova, Zh.Oryntaev. In order to determine the areas of cooperation in the field of health protection, international legal documents adopted at the SCO summits, in particular the SCO Charter, Declarations and Agreements on Mutual Cooperation, were analyzed. In addition, the general state of cooperation between the SCO states in the field of health protection in practice was analyzed. As a result, it is concluded that cooperation in the field of health protection within the SCO needs to strengthen the legal component, in particular, it is necessary to conclude international agreements on specific areas of public health protection and the organization of medical care. At a time when the consequences of the rapid spread of coronavirus infection, the largest humanitarian catastrophe of the coming century, have become an indicator of systemic problems of international law in the field of health protection as a branch of international law, and the established system of international legal regulation has proved unable to counteract COVID-19, rightly identifying the task of carrying out its consistent reform to ensure human security, strengthening the international legal framework for regulating the right to health within the SCO, in our opinion, can have a certain positive impact on the adoption of the necessary, more specific universal international treaties in this direction, especially in the fight against infectious diseases.