The “Perspectives” section provides space for contributors to share information and express their views on a broad range of topics, including but not limited to the themes of the journal’s print issues. Between publication of print issues, “Perspectives” will be updated with new material on a rolling basis. “Perspectives” texts are generally short and need not include scholarly references. Texts for potential inclusion in “Perspectives” should be sent to the editors at hhrjournal@hsph.harvard.edu. Views expressed in the journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Health and Human Rights officers, editors, or other members.
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…
Continue reading “A Personal Commentary on the Two Conferences on Health and Human Rights”
Vol 26/1, 2024, pp. 87-99 PDF Danielle Manton, Megan Williams, and Andrew Hayen Abstract Indigenous community-controlled health care organizations provide timely, sustained, and culturally safe care. However, their expertise is often excluded from health professional education. This limits the transfer of knowledges and protocols to future practitioners—those positioned to shape health care systems and practices that could achieve the health rights of Indigenous people and reduce health and social inequities.…
Aaron Chia In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Government passed the Coronavirus Act 2020 (CA), which implemented a number of emergency powers, allowing public officials to take action in specific situations in order to contain and slow down the spread of the virus as well as ease the burden on frontline staff.[1] Examples of these emergency powers include: the capability for public officials to test, isolate, and detain…
Continue reading “STUDENT ESSAY: Is Compulsory COVID-19 Vaccination a Violation of Human Rights?”
Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 285 – 290 PDF Omar Sultan Haque and Michael Ashley Stein Persons with disabilities have historically been discriminated against by society, including fulfilment of the right to equal access to health care.[1] The more egregious practices, historically as well as today, include outright denials of access to health care, involuntary sterilization, forced institutionalization, coerced treatment, and substituted decision-making.[2] Discrimination also occurs by more insidious practices.…
Continue reading “COVID-19 Clinical Bias, Persons with Disabilities, and Human Rights”
Volume 22/1, June 2020, pp 251 – 264 PDF Christina Zampas, Avni Amin, Lucinda O’Hanlon, Alisha Bjerregaard, Hedieh Mehrtash, Rajat Khosla, and Özge Tunçalp Abstract A growing body of evidence reveals that the mistreatment of pregnant women during facility-based childbirth is occurring across the globe. As human rights bodies have increasingly recognized, numerous human rights are implicated in the context of mistreatment of women in childbirth, including the rights to…
PDF Rachel Hammonds, Gorik Ooms, Moses Mulumba, and Allan Maleche Abstract The September 2019 United Nations High Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) aims to mobilize top-level political support for action on UHC to advance the health Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). A driving force behind this meeting is the “UHC Movement,” led by UHC2030, which focuses on coordinating and amplifying efforts by WHO, the World Bank, civil society, and the…
PDF Flavia Bustreo and Curtis Doebbler Our children are our future and one of the basic responsibilities is to care for them in the best and most compassionate manner possible.—Nelson Mandela[1] If women are denied a chance to develop their full human potential, including their potential to lead healthier and at least somewhat happier lives, is society as a whole really healthy? —Dr. Margaret Chan[2] This commentary argues that current…
PDF Thérèse Murphy Abstract This article argues that to be able to look forward, lawyers within the health and human rights movement need to do more looking back. It is prompted by a simple question: do we have a history of health and human rights law and lawyering? Finding nothing that qualifies, the article asks how we might fill that gap. Focusing on international human rights law, it prescribes histories…
Continue reading “Health and Human Rights’ Past: Patinating Law’s Contribution”
PDF Alessandro Luciano and Alex Voorhoeve Abstract The experience of Costa Rica highlights the potential for conflicts between the right to health and fair priority setting. For example, one study found that most favorable rulings by the Costa Rican constitutional court concerning claims for medications under the right to health were either for experimental treatments or for medicines that should have low priority based on health gain per unit of…
PDF Madison B. Sharp*, Andrew R. Milewski*, Claire Lamneck, and Katherine McKenzie Abstract Individuals applying for asylum must demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution. By documenting signs of torture and other forms of abuse, medical evaluations can provide forensic evidence to support asylum claims. The backlog of pending immigration cases in the United States recently exceeded one million. Student-run asylum medicine clinics conduct forensic evaluations to assist in the asylum…
Continue reading “Evaluating the Impact of Student-run Asylum Clinics in the US from 2016–2018”
