University of Dayton School of Law  [Printer-friendly version]
February 12, 2007

THE HUMAN RIGHT TO HEALTH (WITH LINKS UPDATED FEB. 12, 2007)

By Vernellia R. Randall

Human Rights and Health

I. What is the Human Right to Health?

Every woman, man, youth and child has the human right to the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health, without
discrimination of any kind. Enjoyment of the human right to health is
vital to all aspects of a person's life and well-being, and is crucial
to the realization of many other fundamental human rights and
freedoms.

The Human Rights at Issue

Human Rights relating to health are set out in basic human rights
treaties and include:

** The human right to the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health, including reproductive and sexual health.

** The human right to equal access to adequate health care and health-
related services, regardless of sex, race, or other status.

** The human right to equitable distribution of food.

** The human right to access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

** The human right to an adequate standard of living and adequate
housing.

** The human right to a safe and healthy environment.

** The human right to a safe and healthy workplace, and to adequate
protection for pregnant women in work proven to be harmful to them.

** The human right to freedom from discrimination and discriminatory
social practices, including female genital mutilation, prenatal gender
selection, and female infanticide.

** The human right to education and access to information relating to
health, including reproductive health and family planning to enable
couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly all matters
of reproduction and sexuality.

** The human right of the child to an environment appropriate for
physical and mental development.

II. Governments' Obligations to Ensuring the Human Right to Health

What provisions of human rights law guarantee everyone the Human Right
to Health?

Includes excerpts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, and the Convention on the Rights of the
Child

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for ...
health and well-being of himself and his family, including food,
clothing, housing, medical care and the right to security in the event
of... sickness, disability.... Motherhood and childhood are entitled
to special care and assistance...." --Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, Article 25

"The States Parties... recognize the right of everyone to... just and
favourable conditions of work which ensure... safe and healthy working
conditions....;... the right to... an adequate standard of living ...;
the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health. The steps to be taken... to achieve the full
realization of this right shall include those necessary for:... the
reduction of... infant mortality and for the healthy development of
the child; the improvement of all aspects of environmental and
industrial hygiene; the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic,
endemic, occupational and other diseases; the creation of conditions
which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the
event of sickness." --International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, Articles 7, 11, and 12

"States Parties shall... ensure to [women]... access to specific
educational information to help to ensure the health and well-being of
families, including information and advice on family planning....
States Parties shall... eliminate discrimination against women in ...
health care... to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women,
access to health care services, including those related to family
planning....; ensure... appropriate services in connection with
pregnancy.... States Parties shall... ensure... that [women in rural
areas]... have access to adequate health care facilities, including
information counselling and services in family planning...."
--Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women, Articles 10, 12, and 14

"States Parties undertake to... eliminate racial discrimination ...
and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to
race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the
law,... the right to public health, medical care, social security and
social services...." --Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, Article 5

"States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of
the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the
treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health...." --Convention
on the Rights of the Child, Article 24

III. Governments' Commitments to Ensuring the Human Right to Health

What commitments have governments made to ensuring the realization of
the Human Right to Health?

Includes commitments made at: the Earth Summit in Rio, the
International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, the
World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, the Habitat II
conference in Istanbul.

"Health and development are intimately interconnected. Both
insufficient development leading to poverty and inappropriate
development... can result in severe environmental health problems....
The primary health needs of the world's population... are integral to
the achievement of the goals of sustainable development and primary
environmental care.... Major goals... By the year 2000... eliminate
guinea worm disease...; eradicate polio;... By 1995... reduce measles
deaths by 95 per cent...; ensure universal access to safe drinking
water and... sanitary measures of excreta disposal...; By the year
2000 [reduce] the number of deaths from childhood diarrhoea... by 50
to 70 per cent..." -- Agenda 21,Chapter 6, paras. 1 and 12

"Everyone has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health. States should take all
appropriate measures to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and
women, universal access to health-care services, including those
related to reproductive health care.... The role of women as primary
custodians of family health should be recognized and supported. Access
to basic health care, expanded health education, the availability of
simple cost-effective remedies... should be provided...." --Cairo
Programme of Action, Principle 8 and para. 8.6

"We commit ourselves to promoting and attaining the goals of universal
and equitable access to... the highest attainable standard of physical
and mental health, and the access of all to primary health care,
making particular efforts to rectify inequalities relating to social
conditions and without distinction as to race, national origin,
gender, age or disability...." --Copenhagen Declaration, Commitment
6

"The explicit recognition... of the right of all women to control all
aspects of their health, in particular their own fertility, is basic
to their empowerment.... We are determined to... ensure equal access
to and equal treatment of women and men in... health care and enhance
women's sexual and reproductive health as well as Health." --Beijing
Declaration, paras. 17 and 30

"Women have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health. The enjoyment of this right is
vital to their life and well-being and their ability to participate in
all areas of public and private life.... Women's health involves their
emotional, social and physical well-being and is determined by the
social, political and economic context of their lives, as well as by
biology.... To attain optimal health,... equality, including the
sharing of family responsibilities, development and peace are
necessary conditions." --Beijing Platform for Action, para. 89

"Strategic objective... Increase women's access throughout the life
cycles to appropriate, affordable and quality health care, information
and related services.... Actions to be taken:... Reaffirm the right to
the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and
mental health, protect and promote the attainment of this right for
women and girls and incorporate it in national legislation...; Provide
more accessible, available and affordable primary health care services
of high quality, including sexual and reproductive health care...;
Strengthen and reorient health services, particularly primary health
care, in order to ensure universal access to health services...;
reduce maternal mortality by at least 50 per cent of the 1990 levels
by the year 2000 and a further one half by the year 2015;... make
reproductive health care accessible... to all... no later than ...
2015...; take specific measures for closing the gender gaps in
morbidity and mortality where girls are disadvantaged, while achieving
... by the year 2000, the reduction of mortality rates of infants and
children under five... by one third of the 1990 level...; by the year
2015 an infant morality rate below 35 per 1,000 live births.... Ensure
the availability of and universal access to safe drinking water and
sanitation...." --Beijing Platform for Action, para. 106

"Human health and quality of life are at the centre of the effort to
develop sustainable human settlements. We... commit ourselves to ...
the goals of universal and equal access to... the highest attainable
standard of physical, mental and environmental health, and the equal
access of all to primary health care, making particular efforts to
rectify inequalities relating to social and economic conditions ...,
without distinction as to race, national origin, gender, age, or
disability. Good health throughout the life-span of every man and
woman, good health for every child... are fundamental to ensuring that
people of all ages are able to... participate fully in the social,
economic and political processes of human settlements.... Sustainable
human settlements depend on... policies... to provide access to food
and nutrition, safe drinking water, sanitation, and universal access
to the widest range of primary health-care services...; to eradicate
major diseases that take a heavy toll of human lives, particularly
childhood diseases; to create safe places to work and live; and to
protect the environment.... Measures to prevent ill health and disease
are as important as the availability of appropriate medical treatment
and care. It is therefore essential to take a holistic approach to
health, whereby both prevention and care are placed within the context
of environmental policy...." --Habitat Agenda, paras. 36 and 128

The People's Movement for Human Rights Education (PDHRE) / NY Office
Shulamith Koenig / Executive Director, 526 West 111th Street, New York,
NY 10025 tel: 212.749-3156; fax: 212.666-6325; pdhre@igc.apc.org