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.

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).

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?

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.

scholarly journals Medical Patents and the Right to Health – From Monopoly Control to Open Access Innovation and Provision of Medicines

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-182
Author(s):  
Philippe Cullet ◽  
Hu Yuanquiong
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
Patent Protection ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Trips Agreement ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Right

The coming into force of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in the mid-1990s led to a massive strengthening of intellectual property rights in the global South. This was particularly controversial concerning restrictions on access to medicines and set the stage for spirited debates concerning the impacts of medical patents on the realisation of the right to health in the context of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Efforts to reconcile the right to health and medical patents led to a minor amendment of the TRIPS Agreement that has hardly had any impact on the ground while further strengthening of patent protection was obtained, for instance, through bilateral agreements. In the human rights field, attempts to strengthen the protection afforded by the right to health have been partly diluted by efforts to strengthen the claims of inventors under human rights law. At this juncture, two main elements need to be taken forward. The first is to revisit our understanding of the human right to health to ensure, for instance, that there is no compromise in the liberal promise of universality, in particular access to medicines for every person who needs them. The second element is the need to rethink the way in which legal incentives are given to innovate. In a context where patents are the only recognised legal incentive to innovate in the medical field, this discourages the development of medicines for diseases that may affect mostly poor patients, since companies need to recoup their investments. Further, it militates against giving attention to other systems of medicine whose innovations can usually not be protected under the patent system, even where treatments are effective. Keywords: TRIPS Agreement, Access to Medicines, Right to Health, ICESCR

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

The human right to health and the struggle for recognition

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
PATRICK HAYDEN
Keyword(s):  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
World Health ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Treatment Action Campaign ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Right ◽  
Struggle For Recognition

AbstractPersistent health inequalities exist globally, affecting high-income countries and blighting the developing world. Health inequalities currently are one of the greatest challenges facing realisation of the human right to health. This article argues that the struggle for the right to health in the face of such inequalities requires embracing three critical considerations: redistribution, representation, and recognition. While the analysis of the right to health has been formulated predominantly around theories of distributive justice, I suggest that a more normatively compelling account will link the politics of economic redistribution to the politics of sociocultural recognition. A recognition approach, which views rights claims as grounded on the vulnerability of the human condition, can show how rights are emergent in political action and that the ability to claim and exercise the human right to health is contingent upon recognition of diverse sociopolitical statuses. From this perspective, there are no ‘neutral’ constructions of the rights-bearing subject and conflict between different political framings of the right to health is a consequence of the struggle for recognition. This theme is illustrated by comparing conservative, affirmative, and transformative processes of recognition in the struggle for access to essential antiretroviral medicines by South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign.

scholarly journals Legal Exploration of Right to Health

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (S2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tengku Noor Azira Tengku Zainudin ◽  
Mohd Zamre Mohd Zahir ◽  
Ahmad Azam Mohd Shariff ◽  
Ramalinggam Rajamanickam ◽  
Ong Tze Chin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health It ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Legal Mechanism

The right to health is recognised as a fundamental human right in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Constitution. In Malaysia, the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is a fundamental human right without discrimination for every human being. Consequently, the principle of the “right to health,” regardless of the legal status of an individual, is the driving force in creating acceptable standards of health care for all citizens. Even for individual who suffers from Covid-19, he still has a fundamental right to health. The issue of the right to health is whether the patients have any rights of their health? If they do have the right to health, the next issue is whether the hospitals are legally bound to follow such right, i.e. the right to health of the patients. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse and discuss the issues regarding the rights to health of the patients. Without the legal mechanism in recognising the right to health, it pointed out that is no such right. The method employed in this paper is qualitative based. The paper finds that although Malaysia does not have any specific legal framework about the right to health, the application of international legal mechanism can be referred to a guideline. Thus, it is important to have a specific legal framework by applying international legal mechanism in order to address this issue.

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 Reporting progress on the human right to water and sanitation through JMP and GLAAS

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Óscar Flores Baquero ◽  
Alejandro Jiménez ◽  
Agustí Pérez-Foguet
Keyword(s):  
International Institutions ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
World Health ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Outcome Indicators ◽  
Joint Monitoring ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Right

International institutions have the authority to monitor States' compliance with the Human Right to Water and Sanitation (HRWS) but the necessary tools for this task are not yet ready. The human development sector has a wider experience of using information about progress, which provides a perfect opportunity to develop this further. The World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring programme (JMP) and the UN Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) data sets could be used for those with a mandate to monitor the right, contributing to this challenge. Consequently, the information they offer has been analysed through a human rights lens. A matrix has been constructed to specifically identify to what extent their data sets could be combined to monitor HRWS in a broad sense. The JMP-led post-2015 proposal makes a considerable contribution to outcome indicators for measuring right-holders’ enjoyment of the right, and GLAAS adds structural and process outcome indicators to measure duty-bearers’ conduct. However, there are still some critical gaps if both UN Water platforms are to be used to report progress on HRWS. Finally, the article suggests some ideas concerning the way these shortcomings could be addressed.

scholarly journals RIGHT TO HEALTH IN INDIA

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Ramakanta Satapathy ◽  
Bikram Kumar Das
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
World Health ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
The People ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Right ◽  
Organized Action

<p>Right to health is recognized by the constitution of India. The Constitution of World Health Organization states that, “Health is a State of Complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity.” Right to health presupposes that, “ it is the duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and standard of living of the people for good health. The apex court of India declared that Right to health is a fundamental right coming within Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. Right to health and health care needs multi-disciplinary services to monitor health condition of life. It is a huge task requires effective management and organized action.  In this article an attempt is made to introspect the right to health within the constitutional parameters, international provisions and judicial decisions of Supreme Court. In this work doctrinal method is adopted to draw the conclusion. </p>

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