Right to health

The phrase "right to health" is not a familiar one, although the constitution of the World Health Organization and a number of international human rights treaties recognize the right to the "highest attainable standard" of health. Although enunciated in these international documents, the scope and meaning of the "right to health" as a human right is only gradually being clarified.

Approaching health issues through a rights perspective adds an important dimension to consideration of health status, emphasizing the link of health status to issues of dignity, nondiscrimination, justice, and participation, as these aspects are embodied in principles underlying all international human rights.

A rights-based perspective on health can be seen as reflecting the following elements of all rights and applying them to health status issues:

• Conceptualizing something as a right emphasizes its exceptional importance as a social or public goal.
• Rights concepts focus on the dignity of persons.
• Equality or nondiscrimination is a fundamental principle of human rights.
• Participation of individuals and groups is an essential aspect of human rights.
• The concept of rights implies entitlement.
• Rights are interdependent.
• Rights are almost never absolute and may be limited, but such limitations should be subject to strict scrutiny.
• The dignity of all must be respected, in particular the dignity of society's most vulnerable: the poor, racial and ethnic minorities, disabled persons, and the mentally handicapped.

While it is difficult to provide evidence that there should be a right to health, more practical would be the right to the opportunity to achieve good health. But even that is complex—attaining good health requires social, economic, and environmental support, which in turn provide the opportunity for good health. A key factor in realizing the opportunity for health is the right to health care.

(SEE ALSO: Access to Health Services; Equity and Resource Allocation; Ethics of Public Health)

Bibliography

Gostin, L., and Mann, J. (1994). "Towards Development of a Human Rights Impact Assessment for the Formulation and Evaluation of Public Health Policies." Health and Human Rights 1:59.

Leary, V. (1994). "The Right to Health in International Human Rights Law." Health and Human Rights 1:28.

— JOHN H. BRYANT

A Right to Health is stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25 in 1948. The article says that "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of himself and his family...". The Preamble to the WHO constitution also declares that it is one of the fundamental rights of every human being to enjoy "the highest attainable standard of health". Inherent in the right to health is the right to the underlying conditions of health as well as medical care. Franklin D. Roosevelt advocated a right to medical care in his 1944 proposal for a Second Bill of Rights.^[1]

The United Nations expanded upon the "Right to Health" in Article 12 of the International Covenant in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1966. Not only did this document guarantee the "right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health", but it also specifically called for the "provision for the reductions of . . . infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child; the improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene; the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational, and other diseases; and the creation of conditions which could assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness."

In 2000, the United Nations further expanded upon the "Right to Health" with General Comment No. 14. This more lengthy document expanded upon the original ideas from 1966 by exploring the historical context of this right, further defining the meaning of an adequate health care system, detailing obligations of states and ngo’s, defining violations, and discussing the basics of implementation.

References

1. ^ Franklin D. Roosevelt, “"The Economic Bill of Rights” Excerpt from 11 January 1944 message to Congress on the State of the Union.

• Joint Fact Sheet WHO/OHCHR/323 (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs323_en.pdf)
• The Right to Health cartoon (http://www.who.int/hhr/news/en/cartoon_health.pdf)
• Video: Health - My Right (http://www.who.int/hhr/news/en/)
• Horwitz (1983) Bull PAHO, 17(1)61

External links

• General Comment No. 14. The right to the highest attainable standard of health CESCR, 2000
• The right to health and the European Social Charter Secretariat of ESC, 2009
• The Right to Health: Fact Sheet No. 31 WHO and UN HCHR
• 25 Questions & Answers on Health and Human Rights, WHO

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