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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Editorial
Bioethics and the Right to Health: Advancing a Complementary Agenda Jennifer L. Gibson, PhD, Lisa Forman, SJD, Stephanie A. Nixon, PT, PhD Guest Editors Health and Human Rights 2015, 17/1 Published June 11, 2015 This special section in Health and Human Rights Journal explores the relationship between bioethics and the right to health. Although bioethics scholars may argue for a right to health, particularly in the domains of universal health…
Conflicting Rights: How the Prohibition of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Infringes the Right to Health of Female Sex Workers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Lisa Maher, Thomas Crewe Dixon, Pisith Phlong, Julie Mooney-Somers, Ellen S. Stein, Kimberly Page Health and Human Rights 17/1 Published June 11, 2015 Abstract While repressive laws and policies in relation to sex work have the potential to undermine HIV prevention efforts, empirical research on their interface has been lacking. In 2008, Cambodia introduced anti-trafficking legislation ostensibly designed to suppress human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Based on empirical research with…