The Right to Health: Institutional Effects of Constitutional Provisions on Health Outcomes

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew M. Kavanagh
Author(s):  
Luciana Souza d’Ávila ◽  
Eli Iola Gurgel Andrade ◽  
Fernando Mussa Abujamra Aith

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar las consecuencias políticas e institucionales de la judicialización de la salud en Brasil y Colombia. Para esto, se realizó una revisión de la literatura, basada en referencias relacionadas con las políticas en salud y judicialización de los países. La salud es un derecho reconocido en Brasil y en Colombia, mas hay diferencias entre los sistemas de salud y jurídicos. Los problemas de acceso han provocado el aumento de las acciones judiciales, lo que lleva a efectos políticos e institucionales. En Brasil, fueron realizadas audiencias públicas; conformados grupos de interés y creadas nuevas instituciones en el poder executivo y en el judiciario. En Colombia, fueron instituidas políticas y reformas estructurales importantes. Se espera que los resultados contribuyan para las discusiones de las políticas y judicialización, con vistas a buscarse la efectuación de lo derecho a la salud en los dos países.   This paper aims to analyze the political and institutional consequences of the judicialization of health in Brazil and Colombia. For that, it was accomplished a literature review, based on references in health policies and judicialization in both countries. Health is a right recognized in Brazil and in Colombia, but there are differences between the health and juridical systems. Problems of access has induced growth of judicial processes, what lead to political and institutional effects. In Brazil, it was fulfilled public audiences; shaped interests groups and created new institutions in executive and judiciary branches. In Colombia, it was instituted policies and structural reforms. We hope that the results contribute to the discussions about policies, judicialization and the search for the right to health in the countries.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-140
Author(s):  
Gabriela Belova ◽  
Stanislav Pavlov

AbstractThe last decades present a significant development of the economic, social and cultural rights and specifically, the right to health. Until 2000, the right to health has not been interpreted officially. By providing international standards, General Comment No.14 on the right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health has led to wider agreement that the right to health includes the social determinants of health such as access to various conditions, services, goods or facilities that are crucial for its implementation. The Reports of the Special Rapporteur on the right to health within the UN human rights system have contributed to the process of gaining the greater clarity about the right to health. It is obvious that achieving the highest attainable level of health depends on the principle of progressive implementation and the availability of the necessary health resources. The possibility individual complaints to be considered by the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights was introduced with the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, entered into force in 2013.


Author(s):  
Gillian MacNaughton ◽  
Mariah McGill

For over two decades, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has taken a leading role in promoting human rights globally by building the capacity of people to claim their rights and governments to fulfill their obligations. This chapter examines the extent to which the right to health has evolved in the work of the OHCHR since 1994, drawing on archival records of OHCHR publications and initiatives, as well as interviews with OHCHR staff and external experts on the right to health. Analyzing this history, the chapter then points to factors that have facilitated or inhibited the mainstreaming of the right to health within the OHCHR, including (1) an increasing acceptance of economic and social rights as real human rights, (2) right-to-health champions among the leadership, (3) limited capacity and resources, and (4) challenges in moving beyond conceptualization to implementation of the right to health.


Author(s):  
Lawrence O. Gostin ◽  
Benjamin Mason Meier

This chapter introduces the foundational importance of human rights for global health, providing a theoretical basis for the edited volume by laying out the role of human rights under international law as a normative basis for public health. By addressing public health harms as human rights violations, international law has offered global standards by which to frame government responsibilities and evaluate health practices, providing legal accountability in global health policy. The authors trace the historical foundations for understanding the development of human rights and the role of human rights in protecting and promoting health since the end of World War II and the birth of the United Nations. Examining the development of human rights under international law, the authors introduce the right to health as an encompassing right to health care and underlying determinants of health, exploring this right alongside other “health-related human rights.”


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