Health and Human Rights

Healthcare is a Human Right

I have been collecting some background materials for Health and Human Rights and would like to share a few resources.

United Nations Documents

The Universal Declaration of Human RightsArticle 25 directly address health:

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

The right to the highest attainable standard of health : . 08/11/2000.

Health is a fundamental human right indispensable for the exercise of other human rights. Every human being is entitled to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health conducive to living a life in dignity. The realization of the right to health may be pursued through numerous, complementary approaches, such as the formulation of health policies, or the implementation of health programmes developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), or the adoption of specific legal instruments. Moreover, the right to health includes certain components which are legally enforceable.

World Health Organization

Health and Human Rights — The role of the World Health Organization Law team is:

  • Assist countries in the development of appropriate health laws adapted to their needs;
  • Act as adviser for Headquarters and Regional Offices on health law;
  • Develop tools for technical cooperation such as legislative guidelines;
  • Ensure global transfer of information through the International Digest of Health Legislation and the Recueil international de Législation sanitaire.

PMNCH Knowledge Summary #23 Human Rights and Accountability

PMNCH — The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

This links to a Knowledge Summary PDF document.

The Health and Environment

Environmental factors are a root cause of a significant disease burden, particularly in developing countries. An estimated 25% of death and disease globally, and nearly 35% in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, is linked to environmental hazards.

This page contains a quick summary of issues, links to PDFs of documents and other resources, and maps.

Diagrams on Health and Human Rights

Examples of the Linkages between Health and Human Rights diagram by World Health Organization:
who health and human rights

Health spending to life expectancy graph per country:
health spending to life expectancy

Graph of healthcare spending as percent of GDP:

Graph of healthcare spending as percent of GDP

The Right to Health Diagram:
The right to health diagram

PMNCH Knowledge Summary #23 Human Rights and Accountability:
PMNCH Knowledge Summary #23 Human Rights and Accountability

Wellbeing and Health Weighted Index Diagram:

Wellbeing and Health Weighted Index Diagram

Average healthcare spending per person graph:

Average healthcare spending per person graph

Cartoon: Mad Dave on Health, Africa, and Environment
Cartoon: Mad Dave on Health, Africa, and Environment

Maps on Health and Human Rights

Map of Calorie Supply from Animal Products:
Map of Calorie Supply from Animal Products

Map of how much each country spends on healthcare per head of the populations:

map how much each country spends on healthcare per head of the population

Subindex Health Map:

Subindex Health Map

Map of doctors per 100,000 people:

Map of doctors per 100,000 people

Another healthcare workers density map:

healthcare workers density map