By Antonia Chan and Jessica Moore Kaplan Pope Francis issued a call on Thursday for politicians, corporations, and individuals to confront climate change and environmental exploitation, setting the stage for science and religion to work together in fighting the human-made global crisis. Laudato Si, a 184-page encyclical announcing the Pope’s stance on the issue, takes a strongly human rights-based approach to advocating for action against climate change and casts…
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and Access to Medicines
Fran Quigley Representatives of Pacific Rim nations are negotiating a trade agreement that could negatively impact the health of millions. But the high-profile discussion about the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) also presents an opportunity for health advocates. This Perspective essay first reviews key proposed terms of the TPPA that would extend the flawed pharmaceutical patent regime and violate multiple human rights commitments. Second, the social movement to ensure…
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How Bioethics is Complementing Human Rights in Realizing Health Access for Clinical Trial Participants: The Case of Formative PrEP Access in South Africa
Commentary Jerome Amir Singh Health and Human Rights 17/1 Published June 11, 2015 Following the demise of apartheid, human rights in South Africa are now constitutionally enshrined.1 The right to health in South Africa’s Constitution has been credited with transforming the lives of millions of people by triggering programmatic reforms in HIV treatment and the prevention of mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV.2 However, a constitutionally enshrined right to…
The Foundations of a Human Right to Health: Human Rights and Bioethics in Dialogue
Audrey Chapman Health and Human Rights 17/1 Published June 11, 2015 Abstract Human rights, including the right to health, are grounded in protecting and promoting human dignity. Although commitment to human dignity is a widely shared value, the precise meaning and requirements behind the term are elusive. It is also unclear as to how a commitment to human dignity translates into specific human rights, such as the right to the…
The Right to Life in Peace: An Essential Condition for Realizing the Right to Health
Donna J. Perry, Christian Guillermet Fernández, David Fernández Puyana Health and Human Rights 17/1 Published June 11, 2015 Abstract Since 2008, the UN Human Rights Council has been working on a declaration related to the right to peace. The Council has established an Open-Ended Working Group, which is refining the draft declaration. This paper discusses the relationship between the right to health and the right to life in peace; we argue…
A Sensitive Period: Bioethics, Human Rights, and Child Development
Avram Denburg Health and Human Rights 17/1 Published June 11, 2015 Abstract This paper explores complementarities between bioethics and human rights in the ethical analysis of early childhood development (ECD) policies. It is argued that conceptual synergies arising from the integration of these fields are considerable, if underexplored, and best illumined through application to specific domains of health policy. ECD represents an especially germane case study: it is characterized by…
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Setting a Minimum Standard of Care in Clinical Trials: Human Rights and Bioethics as Complementary Frameworks
Fatma E. Marouf, Bryn S. Esplin Health and Human Rights 17/1 Published June 11, 2015 Abstract For the past few decades, there has been intense debate in bioethics about the standard of care that should be provided in clinical trials conducted in developing countries. Some interpret the Declaration of Helsinki to mean that control groups should receive the best intervention available worldwide, while others interpret this and other international guidelines…
Evolving Human Rights and the Science of Antiretroviral Medicine
Matthew M. Kavanagh, Jennifer Cohn, Lynette Mabote, Benjamin Mason Meier, Brian Williams, Asia Russell, Kenly Sikwese, Brook K. Baker Health and Human Rights 17/1 Published June 4, 2015 Abstract Recent years have seen significant advances in the science of using antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) to fight HIV. Where not long ago ARVs were used late in disease to prevent sick people from dying, today people living with HIV can use ARVs to…
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Commentary: Limiting Rights and Freedoms in the Context of Ebola and Other Public Health Emergencies: How the Principle of Reciprocity Can Enrich the Application of the Siracusa Principles
Diego S. Silva, Maxwell J. Smith Health and Human Rights 17/1 Published June 11, 2015 One of the key components of CESCR General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (GC 14) is the recognition that human rights are necessarily interdependent and that the social determinants of health are important to the promotion of health itself; as stated in paragraph 3 “…other [human] rights and…
Commentary: Bioethics, Human Rights, and Childbirth
Joanna N. Erdman Health and Human Rights 17/1 Published June 11, 2015 The global reproductive justice community has turned its attention to the abuse and disrespect that many women suffer during facility-based childbirth. In 2014, the World Health Organization released a statement on the issue, endorsed by more than 80 civil society and health professional organizations worldwide.1 The statement acknowledges a growing body of research that shows widespread patterns of…
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