Dr. Francisco Songane was Mozambique’s minister of health from 2000 to 2004. During his tenure, he oversaw the introduction of innovative strategies to tackle malaria and hepatitis B. In addition to ensuring the inclusion of HIV treatment in the public health system, he helped galvanize community partnerships and addressed rural and urban inequalities, resulting in reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality. Since 2004, Dr. Songane has held prominent roles in…
Germany’s Experience in Supporting and Implementing Human Rights-Based Approaches to Health, plus Challenges and Successes in Demonstrating Impact on Health Outcomes
Thomas Silberhorn Health and Human Rights 17/2 Published December 10, 2015 The right to health is a human right. Every person has the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health. However, for many people, enjoyment of this right is far from reality—for example, many do not have access to effective and affordable medicine and treatments or to safe drinking water, adequate food, and basic sanitation. Some progress has…
Ethical and Human Rights Foundations of Health Policy: Lessons from Comprehensive Reform in Mexico
Julio Frenk and Octavio Gómez-Dantés Health and Human Rights 17/2 Published December 10, 2015 Abstract This paper discusses the use of an explicit ethical and human rights framework to guide a reform intended to provide universal and comprehensive social protection in health for all Mexicans, independently of their socio-economic status or labor market condition. This reform was designed, implemented, and evaluated by making use of what Michael Reich has identified…
Assessing the Impact of a Human Rights-Based Approach across a Spectrum of Change for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Health
Rebekah Thomas, Shyama Kuruvilla, Rachael Hinton, Steven L. B. Jensen, Veronica Magar, and Flavia Bustreo Health and Human Rights 17/2 Published December 10, 2015 Abstract Global momentum around women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health, coupled with the ambitious and equalizing agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has exposed a tension between the need for comprehensive, multi-actor, rights-based approaches that seek to “close the gaps” and a growing economic and political…
Editorial: Making the Case: What Is the Evidence of Impact of Applying Human Rights-Based Approaches to Health?
Paul Hunt, Alicia Ely Yamin, and Flavia Bustreo Health and Human Rights 17/2 Published December 10, 2015 Context for the special issue This special issue of the Health and Human Rights Journal constitutes another step on the path toward making the case for human rights-based approaches (HRBAs) to health. In 2003, the United Nations (UN) outlined the pillars of an HRBA to development, which include universality and inalienability, indivisibility, interdependence…
Lessons from the Chilean earthquake: How a human rights framework facilitates disaster response
MaryCatherine Arbour, Kara Murray, Felipe Arriet, Cecilia Moraga, Miguel Cordero Vega Health and Human Rights 13/1 Published June 2011 Abstract The earthquake of 2010 in Chile holds important lessons about how a rights-based public health system can guide disaster response to protect vulnerable populations. This article tells the story of Chile Grows With You (Chile Crece Contigo), an intersectoral system created three years before the earthquake for protection of child…
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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