scholarly journals HUMAN RIGHTS AND ACCESS TO COVID-19 VACCINES IN RURAL SOUTH AFRICA: THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-644
Author(s):  
John Cantius Mubangizi ◽  
Betty Claire Mubangizi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Right To Health Care ◽  
The Right

The purpose of this article is to explore the role of local government in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly concerning access to COVID-19 vaccines. This is done by first looking at the local government institution as a concept while highlighting its centrality in managing disasters and pandemics. The article then draws on literature to show the challenges and complexities faced by the local government as an institution and how these challenges combine to significantly affect the capacity of local government’s performance in rural areas generally and during the COVID-19 pandemic specifically. The discussion is then narrowed to the role of local government in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines with specific reference to rural areas in South Africa. The discussion adopts a human rights perspective by considering equitable distribution, access to information, the right to health care services, and the right to emergency medical treatment. Other relevant constitutional rights such as equality, human dignity, and life are also discussed or mentioned. The article concludes with recommendations on how the role of local government in facilitating access to COVID-19 vaccines for rural communities can be enhanced, including adopting an intersectional human rights-based approach in the rollout of such vaccines. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that COVID-19 is a new disease. Its vaccines have been recently and quickly developed; hence issues of access, human rights, and the role of local government are critical, particularly in rural settings.

The Origins of Human Rights in Global Health

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence O. Gostin ◽  
Benjamin Mason Meier
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Global Health ◽  
International Law ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Right To Health Care ◽  
Global Standards ◽  
The Right

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.”

Access to cataract services in selected rural communities in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lunic Base Khoza ◽  
Wilfred Njabulo Nunu ◽  
Bumani Solomon Manganye ◽  
Pfungwa Mambanga ◽  
Shonisani Tshivhase ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Outcome Variable ◽  
Patient Records

Abstract Background Despite government efforts to improve access to health care services through the re-engineered Primary Health Care and National Health insurance platform, access still remain a challenge particularly in rural areas. The aim of this study was to analyse secondary data on cataract patients who were attended to in selected hospitals in rural Limpopo of South Africa. Methodology A cross section survey was conducted on 411 patient records from five selected hospitals in Vhembe district. A pre tested structured checklist was used to guide retrieval of variables from patient records. The collected data was entered into excel spreadsheet, cleaned and imported into Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26 for analysis. Proportions of demographic characteristics were presented and these were cross tabulated with the outcome variable “success of operation” using Chi Squared tests. Results Findings point out that majority of patients who attended hospital for eye services were aged 65 years above and females (63%). There was no association between the tested demographic characteristics and the outcome variable. Most patients were diagnosed in the period 2015-2018 (60%). Over 90% of those that were operated had successful operations. Of the remaining 10% that had unsuccessful operations, 30% cited complications as being the reason why these operations were unsuccessful. Conclusions It is evident from the findings that cataract services offered in rural areas have low impact as they are not accessible to the patient. It is critical to have a worker retention strategy to retain experts.

scholarly journals The Roles of Local Government in Preventing Woman Trafficking in Laws No 21 of 2007 Perspective That Concer to Crime of Human Trafficking in District of Bone

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Paikah
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Positive Rights ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right

This research aims to analyze the process the role of government of human trafficking. Research was conducted at Bone Regency. Methods used the case study method by using a qualitative approach. The results showed human trafficking is one of the crimes against humanity, because this act has violated human rights, and the majority are victims of women and children. Referring to the Law that, every human being, especially women and children, has the right to live peacefully and properly as they should. Therefore, the right of life of every human being cannot be reduced by anyone and under any circumstances including not allowed to be traded, especially women and children. This is where the role of the government, especially the local government of Bone Regency, seeks to guarantee the protection of positive rights for them for their lives. In this case the local government of Bone Regency provides protection and prevention of human trafficking, especially women and children as a form of respect, recognition and protection of human rights is stated explicitly in Article 58 of Law Number 21 of 2007 concerning Crime of Trafficking in Persons.

scholarly journals DOES THE RIGHT TO ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN TERMS OF SECTION 27 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH AFRICA, 1996 CATER FOR CANCER PATIENTS?

Obiter ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Maimela
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Cancer Patient ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Right To Health Care ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Right

Does the right to health care services as provided in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, cater for cancer patients due to the expensive nature of cancer treatment and, if so, to what extent? One of the major socio-economic rights which cancer patients struggle to access is the right to health care services, which is currently dependent on the economic or financial position of a cancer patient, which is, unfortunately, the deciding factor in South Africa as well the entire continent of Africa. The financial or economic standing of a patient or a cancer patient, in this case, will determine if the patient will receive adequate cancer treatment or not. Does the economic or financial position of the cancer patient serve as a valid and justifiable reason for the right to access to health care services to the 75 per cent of people in South Africa who rely on public health care services for different health deformities that include cancer and, if so, to what extent?

scholarly journals Water ‘Apartheid’ and the Significance of Human Rights Principles of Affirmative Action in South Africa

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1104
Author(s):  
Ademola Oluborode Jegede ◽  
Pumzile Shikwambane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
Black Populations ◽  
The Right

Water is an essential necessity for human beings; however, South Africa has a long history of inequalities dating back to apartheid politics and legislation which denied access to water to disadvantaged black populations mostly residing in rural areas. Although apartheid has officially ended, whether the lack of access to water by such populations who still cannot afford it exists and aligns with international human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination merits an examination. To redress the injustices of the apartheid regime, the right to have access to sufficient water is entrenched in section 27(1)(b) of the 1996 South African Constitution. In addition to embracing equality and non-discrimination, the Constitution informs other instruments and measures such as free basic water policy and pre-paid meters meant to ensure access to water. However, the plight of these populations persists in post-apartheid South Africa, but it is rarely a subject of academic scrutiny how the notion of affirmative action as grounded in the principles of equality and non-discrimination under human rights law can be deployed as a response. Using a doctrinal research approach, this article argues that the continuing struggle of disadvantaged communities with access to water does not only constitute water apartheid, it negates the human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination. The principle of affirmative action is useful in responding to inadequate access to sufficient water by disadvantaged populations in post-apartheid South Africa.

DEMOCRACY AT THE SERVICE OF FOREIGN POLICY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. FREDDIE
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Foreign Policy Change ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Apartheid Regime

The article examines the place and role of democracy and human rights in South Africas foreign policy. The author analyzes the process of South Africas foreign policy change after the fall of the apartheid regime and transition to democracy. He gives characteristics of the foreign policy under different presidents of South Africa from 1994 to 2018 and analyzes the political activities of South Africa in the area of peacekeeping and human rights on the African continent.

The Right to Avoid Procreation and the Regulation of Pregnancy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne Rothmar Herrmann
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
European Perspective ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
European Consensus ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Right

This chapter discusses the right to avoid procreation and the regulation of pregnancy from a European perspective. The legal basis for a right to avoid procreation can be said to fall within the scope of several provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), an instrument that is binding for all European countries. Here, Article 12 of the ECHR gives men and women of marriageable age the right to marry and found a family in accordance with the national laws governing this right. However, Article 12 protects some elements of the right not to procreate, but for couples only. The lack of common European consensus in this area highlights how matters relating to the right to decide on the number and spacing of children touch on aspects that differ from country to country even in what could appear to be a homogenous region. In fact, the cultural, moral, and historical milieus that surround these rights differ considerably with diverse national perceptions of the role of the family, gender equality, religious and moral obligations, and so on.

scholarly journals Prevalence and Genetic Characterisation of Human Sapovirus from Children with Diarrhoea in the Rural Areas of Vhembe District, South Africa, 2017–2020

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 393
Author(s):  
Mpho Magwalivha ◽  
Jean-Pierre Kabue Ngandu ◽  
Afsatou Ndama Traore ◽  
Natasha Potgieter
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rna Extraction ◽  
Diarrhoeal Disease ◽  
Positive Sample ◽  
Prevalent Strain ◽  
Stool Samples ◽  
Vhembe District ◽  
Pcr Targeting

Diarrhoeal disease is considered an important cause of morbidity and mortality in developing areas, and a large contributor to the burden of disease in children younger than five years of age. This study investigated the prevalence and genogroups of human sapovirus (SV) in children ≤5 years of age in rural communities of Vhembe district, South Africa. Between 2017 and 2020, a total of 284 stool samples were collected from children suffering with diarrhoea (n = 228) and from children without diarrhoea (n = 56). RNA extraction using Boom extraction method, and screening for SV using real-time PCR were done in the lab. Positive samples were subjected to conventional RT-PCR targeting the capsid fragment. Positive sample isolates were genotyped using Sanger sequencing. Overall SV were detected in 14.1% (40/284) of the stool samples (16.7% (38/228) of diarrhoeal and 3.6% (2/56) of non-diarrhoeal samples). Significant correlation between SV positive cases and water sources was noted. Genogroup-I was identified as the most prevalent strain comprising 81.3% (13/16), followed by SV-GII 12.5% (2/16) and SV-GIV 6.2% (1/16). This study provides valuable data on prevalence of SV amongst outpatients in rural and underdeveloped communities, and highlights the necessity for further monitoring of SV circulating strains as potential emerging strains.

scholarly journals What Constitutions Can Do (but Courts Sometimes Don’t): Property, Speech, and the Influence of Constitutional Norms on Private Law

2004 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Gerstenberg
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Recent Attempt ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
The Right ◽  
Higher Law

In this paper I want to address, against the background of the ECtHR’s recent attempt to resolve the clash between property rights and the right to freedom of expression in its decision in Appleby v. UK, two questions, both of which I take to be related to the overarching theme of “social democracy”. First, there is the problem of the influence of “higher law”-of human rights norms and constitutional norms-on private law norms; second, the question of the role of adjudication in “constitutionalizing” private law, in other words, the question of the “judicial cognizability” of constitutional norms within private law.

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