Blogs

In his recent report for the United Nations General Assembly, Special Rapporteur Anand Grover emphasizes that informed consent should be a fundamental practice in a rights-based approach to health. He describes informed consent as “not mere acceptance of…

Many prisoners living with HIV are denied access to adequate antiretroviral drugs, leaving them susceptible to opportunistic infections. Recently, prisoners have increasingly demanded HIV treatment. In 2006, South African inmates launched a hunger…

[Editor’s note: This is a guest post written by Sarah Mi Ra Dougherty.] In a recent opinion piece in the Financial Times, William Easterly argued that a rights-based approach to health care would favor the agendas of the rich and powerful, leaving…

More than 500,000 women die each year from preventable complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. The World Health Organization describes the main causes of maternal mortality and morbidity as “unavailable, inaccessible, unaffordable, or poor…

Access to an adequate amount of clean water is an integral part of maintaining good health. Unfortunately for the residents of Phiri, Soweto — a low-income community in Johannesburg developed and relegated to black Africans during Apartheid — a ruling…

The latest CIA Inspector General’s May 2004 Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities Report, released to the public on August 24, 2009, describes previously unknown or unconfirmed interrogation practices performed by the CIA and colluding…

Yesterday, the US Supreme Court justices heard arguments in two appeals that challenge the constitutionality of sentencing children to life in prison without parole for non-homicide offenses. The cases of Sullivan v. Florida and Graham v. Florida involve…

A human rights victory emerged from the White House last week when President Obama announced that he would end the ban restricting entry of HIV-positive travelers and immigrants into the US. The 22-year ban, first instated in 1987 when AIDS was thought…

The recent humanitarian release of Libyan citizen Abdalbaset al-Megrahi from prison in Greenock, Scotland, because of his poor health, and his subsequent “hero’s welcome” in Libya is strikingly incongruous when compared with the tragic fate of Fathi…

[Editor’s Note: This is the third post in a series of case studies describing the bureaucratic and political barriers to medical access outside of Gaza and the stories of three individual Gazan patients. The first post can be found here, and the second…