Falling Short of the Rights to Health and Scientific Progress: Inadequate TB Drug Research and Access

Mike Frick, Ian Henry, and Erica Lessem Abstract The incorporation of human rights-based approaches into TB programs is gaining traction, but little work has explored the application of human rights norms and principles to TB research (a domain traditionally left to bioethics). TB research is gravely underfunded, and the scarcity of resources for TB drug development has contributed to the stubborn persistence of the TB epidemic and helped to create…

Editorial: Developing a Human Rights-Based Approach to Tuberculosis

Brian Citro, Evan Lyon, Mihir Mankad, Kiran Raj Pandey, and Camila Gianella This special section of Health and Human Rights Journal focuses much-needed attention on tuberculosis (TB) and human rights—particularly the right to health. Even as TB has surpassed HIV as the top infectious disease killer in the world and the global threat from multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) continues to grow, approaches to fighting the disease remain primarily biomedical and public…

Double Standards in Global Health: Medicine, Human Rights Law, and Multidrug-Resistant TB Treatment Policy

Thomas Nicholson, Catherine Admay, Aaron Shakow, and Salmaan Keshavjee  Abstract The human rights arguments that underpinned the fight against HIV over the last three decades were poised, but ultimately failed, to provide a similar foundation for success against multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and other diseases of the poor. With more than 1.5 million deaths since 2000 attributed to strains of MDR-TB, and with half a million new, and mostly untreated, MDR-TB…

Human Rights-Based Approaches to Mental Health: A Review of Programs

Sebastian Porsdam Mann, Valerie J. Bradley, and Barbara J. Sahakian  Health and Human Rights 18/1 Published June 2016 Abstract The incidence of human rights violations in mental health care across nations has been described as a “global emergency” and an “unresolved global crisis.” The relationship between mental health and human rights is complex and bidirectional. Human rights violations can negatively impact mental health. Conversely, respecting human rights can improve mental health.…

Indigenous Child Health in Brazil: The Evaluation of Impacts as a Human Rights Issue

Anna R. Coates, Sandra del Pino Marchito, and Bernardino Vitoy Health and Human Rights 18/1 Published June 2016 Abstract Improving the health status of indigenous children is a long-standing challenge. Several United Nations committees have identified the health of indigenous peoples as a human rights concern. Addressing the health of indigenous children cannot be separated from their social, cultural, and historic contexts, and any related health program must offer culturally appropriate…

Essential Medicines in National Constitutions: Progress Since 2008

S. Katrina Perehudoff, Brigit Toebes, and Hans Hogerzeil Health and Human Rights 18/1 Published June 2016 Abstract A constitutional guarantee of access to essential medicines has been identified as an important indicator of government commitment to the progressive realization of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. The objective of this study was to evaluate provisions on access to essential medicines in national constitutions, to identify comprehensive examples…

The Judicialization of Health and the Quest for State Accountability: Evidence from 1,262 Lawsuits for Access to Medicines in Southern Brazil

JoĂŁo Biehl, Mariana P. Socal, Joseph J. Amon Health and Human Rights 18/1 Published June 2016 Abstract The impact of increasing numbers of lawsuits for access to medicines in Brazil is hotly debated. Government officials and scholars assert that the “judicialization of health” is driven by urban elites and private interests, and is used primarily to access high-cost drugs. Using a systematic sample of 1,262 lawsuits for access to medicines filed…

Human Trafficking Identification and Service Provision in the Medical and Social Service Sectors

Corinne Schwarz, Erik Unruh, Katie Cronin, Sarah Evans-Simpson, Hannah Britton, and Megha Ramaswamy Health and Human Rights 18/1 Published June 2016 Abstract The medical sector presents a unique opportunity for identification and service to victims of human trafficking. In this article, we describe local and site-specific efforts to develop an intervention tool to be used in an urban hospital’s emergency department in the midwestern United States. In the development of our…

The Paradox of Happiness: Health and Human Rights in the Kingdom of Bhutan

Benjamin Mason Meier and Averi Chakrabarti Health and Human Rights 18/1 Published June 2016 Abstract The Kingdom of Bhutan is seeking to progressively realize the human right to health without addressing the cross-cutting human rights principles essential to a rights-based approach to health. Through a landscape analysis of the Bhutanese health system, documentary review of Bhutanese reporting to the UN human rights system, and semi-structured interviews with health policymakers in the…

Assessing and Improving Children’s Rights in Hospitals: Case Studies from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Moldova

Ana Isabel Fernandes Guerreiro, Aigul Kuttumuratova, Kubanychbek Monolbaev, Larisa Boderscova, Zulfiya Pirova, and Martin W. Weber  Health and Human Rights 18/1  PDF Published June 2016 Abstract There is a recognized need to raise evidence on how to adopt human rights-based approaches (HRBAs) to health and to assess their impact. In 2013 and 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe used a set of tools to assess and…