Blogs
AlertNet: Governments failing to protect children from sex trafficking
Child protection network ECPAT International recently released a report stating that countries around the globe are falling far short of efforts necessary to stop child sex trafficking. ECPAT evaluated and rated 42 countries for their efforts in fighting…
Local organizations’ critical role in the provision of reproductive health care during disaster response
By Rachel Kelley and Charlotte Greenbaum
Reproductive health care funding has captured the American limelight in recent months. Whether responding to health care legislation or nonprofit philanthropies’ funding decisions, advocates across the country…
Obesity, NCDs, and the Right to Food
By Angela Duger
Health and human rights professionals have long considered food and nutrition to be underlying determinants of health, but the focus has largely been on undernutrition. That focus is now changing. The World Health Organization (WHO)…
Book Brief: The Human Right to Health
Jonathan Wolff
W. W. Norton & Company, 2012
ISBN 978-0393063356
208 pages
$23.95
In The Human Right to Health, Jonathan Wolff explores all angles of the philosophical dilemma at the heart of establishing a human right to health: “On the one hand, the…
Police crackdowns in China: The health and human rights of sex workers
Chinese authorities hold periodic sweeps to detain sex workers, drug users, and other ‘social undesirables’ en masse in advance of national holidays and major government conferences. Sex workers, including feminist activist Ye Haiyan (also known as…
Kony 2012: Encouraging social change or oversimplifying a crisis?
Kony 2012, the much-discussed short film about Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, has received more than 100 million views in one week, making it the most viral video of all time. The film, created by Jason Russell and released by American charity Invisible…
New online tool outlines the evolution of human rights
By Jay Lemery, MD
The Council on Foreign Relations has just released an educational reference on the history and current state of human rights protection worldwide. Part of the Global Governance Monitor series, the interactive online guide tracks the…
UNICEF: Rapid urbanization hurting children and pregnant women
UNICEF released The State of the World’s Children 2012 last week, reporting on the serious risks children and pregnant women face in our rapidly urbanizing world. While cities historically offer greater access to infrastructure like schools, clinics, and…
Book Brief: The Right to Health in International Law
John Tobin
Oxford University Press, 2012
ISBN 978-0199603299
330 pages
$140
Tobin offers readers a thorough and necessary discussion of the current meanings and legal obligations that stem from the global responsibility to “respect, protect, and fulfill”…
Universal Health Care: A Moral Obligation?
By Ronald Pies, MD
As a psychiatric physician for nearly thirty years, I am always surprised when I hear politicians claim that the U.S. health care system is “the best in the world.” To be sure, we are among the most advanced nations when it comes to…