scholarly journals HOMELESSNESS, POVERTY AND DISCRIMINATION: IMPROVING PUBLIC HEALTH BY REALISING HUMAN RIGHTS

2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 233 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILIP LYNCH

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>[</span><span>There are clear casual and consequential links between homelessness, poverty, discrimination and poor health. This article argues that the engagement of homelessness and health in a human rights framework enables effective identification of socio-economic determinants of ill<br /> health and creation of the enabling conditions necessary for good<br /> health. The article contends that the integration of human rights principles into health service development, implementation and delivery, focuses attention on the need for health services to be adequate, accessible, non-discriminatory and appropriately targeted. The article also contends that a human rights approach to homelessness, poverty and health also imposes obligations - and enables measurement - in relation to realisation of the right to health and interconnected human rights (including the </span></p><p><span>right to adequate housing, the right to social security, the right to non-discrimination, the right to participation, and the right to human dignity and respect)</span><span>] </span></p></div></div></div>

Author(s):  
Tobin John ◽  
Barrett Damon

This chapter reviews the scope and meaning of the right to health under international law. Drawing on public health discourses and expanding beyond a right to health care, the contours of the right to health have been clarified—to encompass a wide range of social, political, and economic determinants of health—by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in its General Comment 14, by academics in the fields of law and public health, and by national governments in their domestic laws and judicial interpretations. The normative content of the right to health now provides a foundation for state obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health; limitations on other rights for public health goals; the right’s essential attributes of availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality; the minimum core obligations of the right to health; and the progressive realization of health-related human rights.


Author(s):  
John Tobin ◽  
Damon Barrett

This chapter reviews the scope and meaning of the right to health under international law. Drawing on public health discourses and expanding beyond a right to health care, the contours of the right to health have been clarified—to encompass a wide range of social, political, and economic determinants of health—by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in its General Comment 14, by academics in the fields of law and public health, and by national governments in their domestic laws and judicial interpretations. The normative content of the right to health now provides a foundation for state obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health; limitations on other rights for public health goals; the right’s essential attributes of availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality; the minimum core obligations of the right to health; and the progressive realization of health-related human rights.


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.”


2021 ◽  
pp. 273-290
Author(s):  
Carmel Williams ◽  
Alison Blaiklock ◽  
Paul Hunt

In this chapter, we explain how human rights, including the right to health, are important for global public health. We introduce key human rights concepts and principles, and illustrate three approaches to the right to health: judicial, policy, and empowerment. We propose that human rights and public health are natural allies with a complementary and supportive relationship. We describe the meaning of the right to the highest attainable standard of health and its place in international, regional, and national laws. We outline ten key elements of the right to health and how the right can be operationalized in public health practice. We demonstrate this with two case studies of critically important global public health issues—climate change and children’s health, and overseas development assistance—as well as one of an emerging challenge in health, the digitization of health through Big Data.


Author(s):  
Flood Colleen M ◽  
Thomas Bryan

This chapter examines both the power and limitations of litigation as a means of facilitating accountability for the advancement of public health. While almost half of the world’s constitutions now contain a justiciable right to health, the impact of litigation has been mixed. Judicial accountability has, in some cases, advanced state obligations to realize the highest attainable standard of health, but in other cases, litigation has threatened the solidarity undergirding public health systems. There is significant country-to-country variation in interpreting health-related human rights, as well as differing views of the proper role of courts in interpreting and enforcing these rights. Surveying regional human rights systems and national judicial efforts to address health and human rights, it is necessary to analyze how courts have approached—and how they should approach—litigation of the right to health and health-related human rights to improve health for all.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Redwanur Rahman ◽  
Ameerah Qattan

Abstract Background: Bangladesh has attained substantial progress in healthcare services and population health. This study examines the knowledge and awareness about the linkage between human rights and healthcare among patients, healthcare providers and members of civil society in Bangladesh. Methods: A questionnaire was distributed between May and August 2018 to 483 respondents among patients (health service users), providers, and other groups (includes members of civil society, politicians, social and religious elites, media personnel, and rights-based groups) in a regional area in Bangladesh. Of these participants, 58% were from urban areas and 42% from rural areas. As many as 78% were male and 22% female. A survey method and descriptive data analysis was performed to complete the study. Results: Participants in the study were aware and had knowledge about the linkage between human rights and health service provision, but they claimed the right to health has not been implemented in practice. The non-implementation of the right to healthcare is suggestive of a lack of political will, which negatively contributes to the social well-being of the larger population. It has undesirable effects on the development of the health system and the population’s health status. This reflects poor monitoring and performance of public institutions which has ramifications on the wider social parameters of social justice, equity, democratic values, transparency, and accountability. Conclusion: The development of population health is rooted in maintaining and promoting the right to healthcare. The ethical principle of human rights lies in the notions of human dignity, equity, equality, and social justice. The government should adhere to these values at societal levels and engage multiple stakeholders to promote the right to health for the benefit of a wider population.


Author(s):  
Dommen Caroline

Does the global trading system operate to the detriment of human rights? Some people think so. Many argue that trade policy interferes with a nation's capacity to develop its own human rights policies in the areas of health, nutrition, and medical services. This article examines that contention by studying how World Trade Organization (WTO) rules limit a country's ability to uphold the right to health for its citizens and suggests ways that human rights norms and mechanisms can be employed as counterweights to socially harmful WTO polices. The author concludes that most commentators agree that human rights are inalienable and thus would prevail in a judicial setting and that human rights mechanisms have been underused by proponents of public health.


2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Hartlev

The right to health is recognised in human rights law and is also part of the catalogue of patients’ rights. It imposes a duty on governments to put in place a system of health protection making it possible for individuals to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health. However, disease patterns are constantly changing, and more and more attention is being paid to so-called lifestyle diseases. Individuals may expose themselves to health threats due to personal choices like eating and smoking habits, and this raises the issue of the individual’s obligation with regard to ill health. Hence, is there not only a right to health but also a duty to be healthy? Using obesity as an example, and based on a cross-disciplinary research project, the article analyses selected European and national public health policy papers to see how individual rights and duties are framed and to analyse the use of stigmatisation as a public-health strategy from a health and human rights perspective.


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