The right to Health.

THE RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE

 This time the article will be a little different, I will speak well on a subject which concerns our health but it is something rational: The right to health.

 The right to health is an inclusive right. We frequently associate the right to health with access to health care and the building of hospitals. This is correct, but the right to health extends further. It includes a wide range of factors that can help us lead a healthy life. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the body responsible for monitoring the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, calls these the “underlying determinants of health”. They include: 

* Safe drinking water and adequate sanitation;  

* Safe food; 

* Adequate nutrition and housing;  

* Healthy working and environmental conditions;  

* Health-related education and information; 

* Gender equality. 

 The right to health contains freedoms. These freedoms include the right to be free from non-consensual medical treatment, such as medical experiments and research or forced sterilization, and to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 

• Health services, goods and facilities must be provided to all without any discrimination. Non-discrimination is a key principle in human rights and is crucial to the enjoyment of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. 

 Common misconceptions about the right to health

The right to health is NOT the same as the right to be healthy.  A common misconception is that the State has to guarantee us good health. However, good health is influenced by several factors that are outside the direct control of States, such as an individual’s biological make-up and socio-economic conditions. Rather, the right to health refers to the right to the enjoyment of a variety of goods, facilities, services and conditions necessary for its realization. This is why it is more accurate to describe it as the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, rather than an unconditional right to be healthy.

The right to health is NOT only a programmatic goal to be attained in the long term. The fact that the right to health should be a tangible programmatic goal does not mean that no immediate obligations on States arise from it. In fact, States must make every possible effort, within available resources, to realize the right to health and to take steps in that direction without delay. Notwithstanding resource constraints, some obligations have an immediate effect, such as the undertaking to guarantee the right to health in a non-discriminatory manner, to develop specific legislation and plans of action, or other similar steps towards the full realization of this right, as is the case with any other human right. States also have to ensure a minimum level of access to the essential material components of the right to health, such as the provision of essential drugs and maternal and child health services. 

-Zayneb Turki-  

Posted in: Health