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 Rights — Article 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.
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:
Health spending to life expectancy graph per country:
Graph of healthcare spending as percent of GDP:
The Right to Health Diagram:
PMNCH Knowledge Summary #23 Human Rights and Accountability:
Wellbeing and Health Weighted Index Diagram:
Average healthcare spending per person graph:
Cartoon: Mad Dave on Health, Africa, and Environment
Maps on Health and Human Rights
Map of Calorie Supply from Animal Products:
Map of how much each country spends on healthcare per head of the populations:
Subindex Health Map:
Map of doctors per 100,000 people:
Another healthcare workers density map:
