The Right To Health

This interdisciplinary study engages with the fields of human rights law, health law, and public health. It analyses how the internationally guaranteed human ‘right to health’ is realized by States at a national level. It brings together scholars from more than ten different countries, with each of them analyzing the right to health in their country or region. They all focus on a particular theme that is important in their country, such as health inequalities, the Millennium Development Goals, or the privatization of healthcare. This book is relevant for scholars, practitioners and policy makers in the field of human rights law, health law, public health and the intersection between these three fields.

“A broad-ranging, insightful analysis of the complex practical and ethical issues involved in global health.”—Kirkus Reviews Few topics in human rights have inspired as much debate as the right to health. Proponents would enshrine it as a fundamental right on a par with freedom of speech and freedom from torture. Detractors suggest that the movement constitutes an impractical over-reach. Jonathan Wolff cuts through the ideological stalemate to explore both views. In an accessible, persuasive voice, he explores the philosophical underpinnings of the idea of a human right, assesses whether health meets those criteria, and identifies the political and cultural realities we face in attempts to improve the health of citizens in wildly different regions. Wolff ultimately finds that there is a path forward for proponents of the right to health, but to succeed they must embrace certain intellectual and practical changes. The Human Right to Health is a powerful and important contribution to the discourse on global health.

Lack of access to health care is one of the fundamental problems facing people in both developing and developed countries. This book examines the history, foundation, and meaning of the right to health in international law. It concludes that it is possible to offer an understanding of this right that is practical and capable of being implemented.

An in-depth critical analysis of the effects of the right to health in Brazil over the past thirty years.

The alarmingly low health status of millions of people in many developing countries is now recognised as a major obstacle to the process of development. In response, increasing numbers of non-governmental organizations are championing the right to health of the disadvantaged, vulnerable and those living in poverty.

The Right to Health in the "International Bill of Rights" -- Latin America and the Right to Healthcare -- Alma-Ata and the Advent of "Primary Care" in the Cold War -- Return to the US: From Medicare to Universal Healthcare? -- Return to Latin America: Alma-Ata in Nicaragua -- 7 The Right to Health in the Age of Neoliberalism -- Exit Alma-Ata, Enter the World Bank -- Healthcare and Neoliberalism: A Return to Chile, Nicaragua, China, Russia, and Cuba -- HIV/AIDS and the Human Right to Health Movement -- The Right to Health in Law: International and Domestic -- Medicines and the Rights-Commodity Dialectic: The Case of South Africa -- Rights, Litigation, and Privatization: Brazil, Colombia, India, and Canada -- The Healthcare Rights-Commodity Dialectic in a Time of Austerity and Reaction -- Conclusion -- Index.

This important book outlines how, despite varying levels of global socio-economic development, governments around the world can guarantee their citizens’ fundamental right to basic healthcare. Grounded in the philosophical position that healthcare is an essential element to human dignity, the book moves beyond this theoretical principle to offer policy-makers a basis for health policies based on public accountability and social responsiveness. Also emphasizing the importance of global co-operation, particularly in the area of health promotion and communication, it addresses, too, the issue of financial sustainability, suggesting robust mechanisms of economic and social regulation. New opportunities created by e-health, evidence-based data and artificial intelligence are all highlighted and discussed, as is the issue of patient rights. Students and researchers across bioethics, public health and medical sociology will find this book fascinating reading, as will policy-makers in the field.

In our globalised world, where inequality is deepening and migration movements are increasing, states continue to maintain strong regulatory control over immigration, health and social policies. Arguments based on state sovereignty can be employed to differentiate irregular migrants from other groups and reduce their right to physical and mental health to the provision of emergency medical care, even where resources are available. Drawing on the enabling and constraining factors of human rights law and public health, this book explores the scope and limits of the right to health of migrants in irregular situations, in international and European human rights law. Addressing these peoples' health solely with an exceptional medical paradigm is inconsistent with the special attention granted to people in vulnerable situations and non-discrimination in human rights, the emerging rights-based approach to disability, the social priorities of public health and the interdependence of human rights.

This book deals with various facets of the human right to health: its normative profile as a universal right, current political and legal conflicts and contextualized implementation in different healthcare systems. The authors come from different countries and disciplines - law, political science, ethics, medicine etc. - and bring together a broad variety of academic and practical perspectives. The volume contains selected contributions of the international conference "The Right to Health - an Empty Promise?" held in September 2015 in Berlin and organized by the Emerging Field Initiative Project "Human Rights in Healthcare" (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg).

The last fifteen years have seen a tremendous growth in the number of health rights cases focusing on issues such as access to health services and essential medications. This volume examines the potential of litigation as a strategy to advance the right to health by holding governments accountable for these obligations. It includes case studies from Costa Rica, South Africa, India, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, as well as chapters that address cross-cutting themes. The authors analyze what types of services and interventions have been the subject of successful litigation and what remedies have been ordered by courts. Different chapters address the systemic impact of health litigation efforts, taking into account who benefits both directly and indirectly—and what the overall impacts on health equity are.