Human Rights Responsibilities of Pharmaceutical Companies in Relation to Access to Medicines

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joo-Young Lee ◽  
Paul Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Access To Essential Medicines ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Right

The Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) affirms that “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights lays the foundations for the international framework for the right to health. This human right is now codified in numerous national constitutions, as well as legally binding international human rights treaties, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.Although medical care and access to medicines are vital features of the right to health, almost two billion people lack access to essential medicines, leading to immense avoidable suffering. Improving access to essential medicines could save 10 million lives each year, four million of them in Africa and South-East Asia alone. Gross inequity is a shocking feature of the world pharmaceutical situation.

Challenges to the Fundamental Rights and Freedoms Including Patient Rights During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey

2022 ◽  
pp. 124-147
Author(s):  
Maral Törenli Çakıroğlu
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Patient Rights ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Experience Effects ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Fundamental Rights And Freedoms ◽  
The Right

The COVID-19 virus, which first appeared in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and spread quickly to the whole world in a few months, was defined as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 12 March 2020. This process has inevitably brought along problems in many areas, including health, education, social, economics, law, psychology, politics, and international relations. The pandemic era is a period when we appreciate more than ever how valuable our fundamental rights and freedoms are. Of these rights, the right to health and patient rights are significantly adversely impacted. This chapter will evaluate human rights, especially patient rights, mostly affected during this pandemic period in Turkey. This chapter further presents that other states are also continuing to experience effects of the pandemic. Both Turkey and other states must be prepared for the patients to properly benefit from the healthcare system in future outbreaks and pandemics. Otherwise, human and patient rights will continue to suffer.

scholarly journals Essential but expensive? The World Health Organization, access to medicines and human rights

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-156
Author(s):  
Keith Syrett
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
World Health ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The World ◽  
International Human ◽  
Health Organization

Now widely accepted as a component of the international human rights framework, the concept of access to medicines nonetheless continues to generate controversial questions as to its scope and application. Through critical analysis of relevant documentary materials, this article seeks to explore the conjunction between human rights and the list of essential medicines compiled biennially by the World Health Organization in the particular context of the recent expansion of this list to embrace a number of very costly medical interventions. Such extension is intended to stimulate access in the long run, but the expense of such medicines may limit accessibility in the short term, as governments struggling to ensure the sustainability of health systems choose to allocate finite resources elsewhere. This article therefore examines the compatibility of limitations to access on grounds of unaffordability, with international human rights obligations. It focuses especially upon Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights but also considers other human rights which may be engaged.

scholarly journals ‘Choking the national demos’: research partnerships and the material constitution of global health

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-127
Author(s):  
John Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Functional Health ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
World Health ◽  
Moral Principle ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Health Law ◽  
The World

By foregrounding a widened view of the rule of law in transnational legal processes, the works under discussion in this symposium can support innovative critical perspectives on global health law –a field that has gained wide attention due to the spread of COVID-19 around the world (Lander, 2020; Bhatt, 2020). Legal and socio-legal scholars in the decade and a half before the pandemic worked on locating global health law and articulating its underlying principles. Lawrence Gostin's 2014 monograph offers a synoptic view centred on international institutions (e.g. the World Health Organization, World Trade Organization, UN Human Rights Council) and problems (e.g. infectious-disease response, tobacco control), along with an elaboration of its normative basis in universal moral principle and international human rights law (Gostin, 2014). Struggles over access to essential medicines and intellectual property in the early 2000s are, for example, represented in terms of the right to health constraining international trade law. Andreas Fischer-Lescano and Guenther Teubner's 2004 reading is oriented more by social theory than by doctrinal or ethical frames (Fischer-Lescano and Teubner, 2004, pp. 1006, 1008). A functional health regime has ‘differentiated out’, they observe, and operates as a discrete communication system across borders, albeit one that is threatened by the preponderant economic system. On this model, the battle for access to medicines amounts to ensuring, via human rights guarantees, that the rationality of the health system is not replaced by that of its economic rival in legal and policy communications (Fischer-Lescano and Teubner, 2004, pp. 1030, 1046).

scholarly journals THE HUMAN RIGHT TO HEALTH: A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS AFTER 70 YEARS OF INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

2018 ◽  
pp. 24-42
Author(s):  
MARÍA DALLI
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the first international text recognising universal human rights for all; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 25 recognises the right to an adequate standard of living, which includes the right to health and medical care. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Declaration, this article presents an overview of the main developments that have been made towards understanding the content and implications of the right to health, as well as an analysis of some specific advancements that aim to facilitate the enforcement thereof. These include: a) the implication of private entities as responsible for right to health obligations; b) the Universal Health Coverage goal, proposed by the World Health Organization and included as one of the Sustainable Development Goals; and c) the individual complaints mechanism introduced by the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted on the 10th December 2008, 60 years after the UDHR).

scholarly journals A Política Internacional da Saúde: a UNITAID e o acesso a medicamentos | The International Politics of Health: UNITAID and access to medicines

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 03-10
Author(s):  
Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim
Keyword(s):  
Patent Protection ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Right ◽  
Hiv Aids

O direito à saúde é um direito fundamental. Várias iniciativas no âmbito da Assembleia Geral da ONU e no Conselho de Direitos Humanos reforçam esse pensamento. Neste particular, a criação da UNITAID, em 2006, foi uma forma de facilitar o acesso a medicamentos a populações mais pobres utilizando fontes inovadoras de financiamento. A instituição, hospedada pela Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS), busca melhores formas de prevenir, tratar e diagnosticar o HIV/AIDS, a tuberculose e a malária de forma mais rápida, eficaz e acessível, buscando conciliar a discussão de patentes com o direito inalienável à saúde. O artigo analisa o processo político e as negociações que levaram à Declaração de Doha sobre TRIPS e Saúde Pública, cuja importância é destacada, entre outros, pelos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável aprovado por todos os Chefes de Estado das Nações Unidas.ABSTRACTThe right to health is a fundamental, inalienable human right. A number of initiatives within the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council reinforce this concept. Established in 2006 and hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNITAID is engaged in finding new ways to prevent, treat and diagnose HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria more quickly, more cheaply and more effectively. It plays an important role in the global effort to defeat these lethal diseases, by facilitating and speeding up the availability of improved health tools and trying to reconcile patent protection with the right to health.  The article analyzes the political process and the negotiations which led up to the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, whose importance – among others – is highlighted on the Sustainable Development Objectives approved by all United Nations Heads of State.Palavras-chave: UNITAID, acesso a medicamentos, saúde global, TRIPS, Doha.Keywords: UNITAID, access to medicines, global health, TRIPS, Doha.DOI: 10.12957/rmi.2016.27034Recebido em 28 de dezembro de 2016 | Received on December 28, 2016.

Happiness as an Expression of Health

2022 ◽  
pp. 311-332
Author(s):  
Rodolfo Andrade de Carvalho ◽  
Jorge Lima de Magalhães
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right ◽  
Legal Interventions

Health gained a global prominence and became a right declared by the World Health Organization in 1948. In the 21st century, it is understood as a complete well-being of the individual, far beyond the absence of disease. In this context, the right to happiness translates as an expression of the aspirations for the realization of the right to health. Thus, this chapter aims to understand, in the light of the Freudian perspective, the aspects of soul life that lead the individual to the exhausting task of seeking happiness and seeks to reflect the possible contributions that legal science can offer to the improvement of individual well-being as a right health in the context of global health. Freud's theories about the formation of the psychic apparatus, his conception of malaise caused by culture and legal interventions that can possibly contribute to the reduction of individual unhappiness are presented.

Economic Profit vs. Social Benefit

2021 ◽  
pp. 24-44
Author(s):  
M. Mercedes Galán-Ladero ◽  
M. Ángeles Galán-Ladero
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Social Benefit ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
World Health ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Right

There is currently a wide-ranging debate on whether it is ethical for pharmaceutical companies to profit and obtain large economic benefits by patenting and controlling the sale of essential medicines that can save thousands of lives, or, on the contrary, whether these medicines should be considered social products and offered at low prices so that anyone, in any country in the world, regardless of their purchasing power, can have access to them. This debate has intensified since health was considered a fundamental human right by the World Health Organization (WHO) and was expressly included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations (specifically, in Goal 3: “Health and Well-Being”). Consequently, the overall objective of this chapter is to reflect on these questions: Should economic interests prevail over social ones in the case of essential life-saving medicines? Should the fundamental right to health prevail over the right granted by a patent? How far should corporate social responsibility (CSR) go in the pharmaceutical industry?

Trade Rules, Intellectual Property, and the Right to Health

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Forman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Access To Essential Medicines ◽  
The Right ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
The Impact

In perpetuating and exacerbating restricted access to essential medicines, current trade-related intellectual property rules on medicines may violate core human rights to health and medicines. In this light, their impact on the global disease burden raises serious questions about their necessity, and their justification should be critically assessed from the perspective of human rights standards. These standards require that international trade rules on medicines be justified to the fullest extent possible, and permitted only to the extent to which they can be justified. In this article I explore the impact of trade rules on medicines access, and the growing force of the human right to health. I argue that the limited justification for strong patents in poor countries suggests the need for significant reform of trade-related intellectual property rights. I argue further that human rights standards may offer both normative and practical tools for achieving this reform and for challenging trade rules on medicines at various levels.

Universal Access to Effective Antibiotics is Essential for Tackling Antibiotic Resistance

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (S3) ◽  
pp. 17-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Daulaire ◽  
Abhay Bang ◽  
Göran Tomson ◽  
Joan N. Kalyango ◽  
Otto Cars
Keyword(s):  
Universal Access ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health It ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Right

The right to health is enshrined in the constitution of the World Health Organization and numerous other international agreements. Yet today, an estimated 5.7 million people die each year (Table 1) from treatable infectious diseases, most of which are susceptible to existing antimicrobials if they were accessible. These deaths occur predominantly among populations living in poverty in low- and middle-income countries, and they greatly exceed the estimated 700,000 annual deaths worldwide currently attributed to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Ensuring universal appropriate access to antimicrobials is not only a critical part of realizing the right to health, it is necessary for mobilizing effective collective action against the development and spread of AMR.

scholarly journals Political, Historical and Social Features of the Human Right to Health

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 554-561
Author(s):  
Luis Henrique Almeida Castro ◽  
Cristiane Martins Viegas de Oliveira ◽  
Diego Bezerra de Souza ◽  
Geanlucas Mendes Monteiro ◽  
Gildiney Penaves de Alencar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Right ◽  
Globalized World ◽  
Right Of Access

The consecration of the right to physical and mental integrity at the time of the establishment of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1946 and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN) in 1948 established the human right of access to health. Conversely, the practical guarantee of this right has gone through many nuances since then, so that today the process of its implementation is closely related to the political, historical and social aspects of each country, demanding from the administrative power an interdisciplinary look for this issue. The problem that involves this conjuncture drives the researchers of this field to question themselves: what is the role of the State in this right? What is the performance of health professionals in fact? Is it possible to achieve the universality of human rights in an economically and culturally globalized world? In the light of the above, this narrative review aimed to collect in the literature the scenarios that permeate this reality providing tacit examples of how the human right to health is shaped according to the conjunctures of insertion of each community that tries to implement it

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