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Carolijn Terwindt Health and Human Rights 2014, 16/2 Abstract In 2009, around 24,000 girls in India were enrolled in a human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination program that was later reviewed to investigate allegations of informed consent irregularities and inadequate monitoring. If the allegations are found to be correct, the clinical trial will have violated core human rights, including the right to health. Unfortunately, such irregularities are not unheard of in…

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Allan Maleche and Emma Day Health and Human Rights 2014, 16/2 Abstract To what extent has the right to access generic HIV medication been implemented in Kenya for the 1.6 million people living with HIV? How does this relate to the right to health under international and national law? This paper examines a constitutional challenge brought to the High Court of Kenya in 2009 (the “Anti-Counterfeit Case”) against the Anti-Counterfeit…

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Ole Frithjof Norheim and Bruce M. Wilson Health and Human Rights 2014, 16/2 Abstract Although Costa Rica has no explicit constitutional right to health, its constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) has become increasingly central to the resolution of many health care decisions. Some argue that courts’ decisions about individuals’ access to very expensive medications could upset the country’s medical priorities and harm the state’s general health care…

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Luisa Cabal, Monica Arango Olaya, Valentina Montoya Robledo Health and Human Rights 2014, 16/2 Abstract Conscientious Objection or conscientious refusal (CO) in access to reproductive health care is at the center of current legal debates worldwide. In countries such as the US and the UK, constitutional dilemmas surrounding CO in the context of reproductive health services reveal inadequate policy frameworks for balancing CO rights with women’s rights to access contraception…

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Colleen M. Flood and Aeyal Gross Health and Human Rights 2014, 16/2 Abstract This article presents research demonstrating that the right to health plays different roles in different types of health systems. In high-income countries with tax-funded health systems, we usually encounter a lack of an enforceable right to heath. In contrast, rights play a more significant role in social health insurance/managed competition systems (which are present in a mixture…

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Brett Dignam and Eli Y. Adashi Health and Human Rights 2014, 16/2 Abstract Rationalized for decades on security grounds, perinatal shackling entails the application of handcuffs, leg irons, and/or waist shackles to the incarcerated woman prior to, during, and after labor and delivery. During labor and delivery proper, perinatal shackling may entail chaining women to the hospital bed by the ankle, wrist, or both. Medically untenable, legally challenged, and ever…

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Ana Paula de Barcellos Health and Human Rights 2014, 16/2 Abstract Public law litigation has been used in many places to advance human rights related to health. In Brazil, such lawsuits usually request that the government pay for pharmaceuticals to individuals. But could litigation play a role in shaping public health policies to benefit communities? To explore this question, this paper focuses on lawsuits involving determinants of health, namely water…

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Promoting Equity in Health: What Role for Courts? Alicia Ely Yamin, JD MPH, Guest Editor Health and Human Rights 2014, 16/2 I am particularly delighted to introduce this special issue on health rights litigation on the 20th anniversary of the launch of Health and Human Rights.  The last 20 years have witnessed an extraordinary growth and evolution in the “health and human rights movement,” and this journal, which has also…

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