Vol 26/1, 2024, pp. 137-141 PDF PERSPECTIVE Amirala S. Pasha and Roma Sonik Introduction Overmedicalization describes the overreliance on medical terminology and frameworks to explain, assess, and address an issue.[1] There is consensus among some scholars that reproductive health care and, in particular, abortion have been overmedicalized, resulting in a devaluation of pregnant persons’ autonomy and increasing health disparities in access to reproductive health care.[2] These scholars have also advocated…
“Reducing the Treatment Gap” Poses Human Rights Risks
Vol 26/1, 2024, pp. 129-135 PDF PERSPECTIVE Lisa Cosgrove, Cristian Montenegro, Lee Edson Yarcia, Gianna D’Ambrozio, and Julie Hannah Introduction The United Nations (UN) officially acknowledged the “global burden” of mental disorders in September 2015, when mental health was included in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).[1] In so doing, the UN identified mental health as a priority for global development. The call to “close the treatment gap” was seen as…
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A Human Right-Based Approach to Dealing with Adverse Events in Residential Care Facilities
Vol 26/1, 2024, pp. 115-127 PDF Niall McGrane, Laura Behan, and Laura M. Keyes Abstract Managing residential care facilities (RCFs) includes the ability to manage adverse events while maintaining a human rights-based approach to care and support. Literature investigating rights-based approaches in RCFs is scarce; therefore, an investigation of the current approach will inform improvements. This study sought to identify whether RCFs in Ireland upheld a rights-based approach during the…
“They Had to Catch Me Like an Animal”: Exploring Experiences of Involuntary Care for People with Psychosocial Conditions in South Africa
Vol 26/1, 2024, pp. 101-114 PDF Alex Freeman and Leslie Swartz Abstract Protecting the rights of people with psychosocial conditions is an important and controversial global aim, particularly in light of multiple calls for reduced coercion catalyzed by General Comment 1 of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which stipulates the replacement of substituted care with supported care. Responding to this and other global calls…
Interpreting International Humanitarian Law to Guarantee Abortion and Other Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Armed Conflict
Vol 26/1, 2024, pp. 31-43 PDF Christina Zampas, Rebecca Brown, and Onyema Afulukwe Abstract The provision of basic sexual and reproductive health services in humanitarian settings, including armed conflict, is extremely limited, causing preventable mortalities and morbidities and violating human rights. Over 50% of all maternal deaths occur in humanitarian and fragile settings. International humanitarian law falls short in guaranteeing access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health…
Freedom Dreaming: On “Emerging Frameworks of Health and Human Rights”
Vol 26/1, 2024, pp. 27-30 PDF COMMENTARY, COMMEMORATING 30 YEARS Tlaleng Mofokeng Lynn P. Freedman conceptualized human rights as being rooted in a rejection of the imposition of the will of any one person or group over another. In her paper “Reflections on Emerging Frameworks of Health and Human Rights,” published in this journal 30 years ago, she connects health and human rights by viewing both through the lens of…
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Law, Human Rights, and Pandemic Response: Reflecting on the South African HIV Response 25 Years Later
Vol 26/1, 2024, pp. 21-25 PDF COMMENTARY, COMMEMORATING 30 YEARS Sharifah Sekalala and Kene Esom Introduction The 1998 article “Human Rights and AIDS in South Africa: From Right Margin to Left Margin” by Mark Heywood and Morna Cornell examined South Africa’s response to HIV five years into the epidemic and how the country’s liberation struggle against apartheid shaped its initial response to the epidemic.[1] The authors argued that the government’s…
The Health and Human Rights Impact Assessment: The Preeminent Value of Equity
Vol 26/1, 2024, pp. 15-19 PDF COMMENTARY, COMMEMORATING 30 YEARS Lawrence O. Gostin and Eric A. Friedman The year was 1994. Contracting HIV was a death sentence. Triple therapy was still two years away in the United States. Efforts to achieve antiretroviral treatment at scale in Sub-Saharan Africa would not begin for nearly another decade. In the United States, AIDS was still heavily associated with men who have sex with…
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A Personal Commentary on the Two Conferences on Health and Human Rights
Vol 26/1, 2024, pp. 11-14 PDF COMMENTARY, COMMEMORATING 30 YEARS Stephen P. Marks This 30th anniversary of Health and Human Rights (HHR) is an extraordinary moment to think back on how far we have come. The enormous debt we all owe to Jonathan Mann will no doubt be expressed by all contributors to this commemoration. I was privileged to participate in the first health and human rights conferences in 1994…
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Health and Human Rights: What Relevance Now?
Vol 26/1, 2024, pp. 7-9 PDF COMMENTARY, COMMEMORATING 30 YEARS Sofia Gruskin It is both an honor and terrifying to be asked to revisit an article we wrote 30 years ago for Health and Human Rights—one often touted as having been central to launching the health and human rights movement, but also written at a time when we didn’t have the words to describe and concretize the linkages and had…
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