Kristin Bergtora Sandvik Today, public health is ‘delivered by women and led by men’, with a glaring absence of women and nurses at the decision making table.[1] Globally, though women only make up 25% of those in healthcare leadership they make up the majority of healthcare workers (70%) and nurses (90%).[2] This exclusion skews the agendas on health so the gender dimensions of research, diagnosis, treatment, and care are rendered…
STUDENT ESSAY The Disproportional Impact of COVID-19 on African Americans
Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 299-307 PDF Maritza Vasquez Reyes Introduction We all have been affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, the impact of the pandemic and its consequences are felt differently depending on our status as individuals and as members of society. While some try to adapt to working online, homeschooling their children and ordering food via Instacart, others have no choice but to be exposed to the…
Continue reading “STUDENT ESSAY The Disproportional Impact of COVID-19 on African Americans”
VIEWPOINT The Human Rights Challenges of Digital COVID-19 Surveillance
Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp. 79 – 83 PDF Akarsh Venkatasubramanian Digital technologies offer huge potential to improve the accuracy, breadth, reliability, and speed of contact tracing and other public health surveillance measures. However, in the absence of appropriate global governance frameworks, the usage of digital technologies during health emergencies presents multidimensional challenges. The article by Sharifah Sekalala and colleagues in this issue analyzes the human rights implications of tools…
Continue reading “VIEWPOINT The Human Rights Challenges of Digital COVID-19 Surveillance”
Analyzing the Human Rights Impact of Increased Digital Public Health Surveillance during the COVID-19 Crisis
Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 7 – 20 PDF Sharifah Sekalala, Stéphanie Dagron, Lisa Forman, and Benjamin Mason Meier Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has led policy makers to expand traditional public health surveillance to take advantage of new technologies, such as tracking apps, to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2. This article explores the human rights dimensions of how these new surveillance technologies are being used and assesses the extent to…
The Right to Health in Times of Pandemic: What Can We Learn from the UK’s Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak?
Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 227 – 242 PDF Lisa Montel, Anuj Kapilashrami, Michel P. Coleman, and Claudia Allemani Abstract The UK’s response to COVID-19 has been widely criticized by scientists and the public. According to EuroMOMO, a European mortality monitoring initiative, the excess mortality that may be attributable to COVID-19 in England is one of the highest in Europe, second only to Spain. While critiqued from a public health…
COVID-19 Clinical Bias, Persons with Disabilities, and 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”
Public Health Policy Shapes COVID-19 Impact: UN Expert’s Final Report
Dainius Pūras In my final report as Special Rapporteur on the right to health, presented to the UN General Assembly this week, I stress that the most effective “vaccine” for global health challenges has been, and will always be, the full realization of all human rights, including the promotion of physical and mental health through the meaningful participation and empowerment of all people. Throughout my six-year tenure of the right…
Continue reading “Public Health Policy Shapes COVID-19 Impact: UN Expert’s Final Report”
Ameliorating COVID-19’s Disproportionate Impact on Black and Hispanic Communities: Proposed Policy Initiatives for the United States
Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 329 – 332 PDF Audrey Chapman The COVID-19 epidemic has shone a bright light on structural racism in US society and on the inadequacies of a health care system that has significantly disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities while giving preference to white Americans.[1] Research and disease surveillance have documented the disproportionate impact of the virus on the Black and Hispanic communities. Confirmed COVID-19 cases and…
COVID-19 in Turkmenistan: No Data, No Health Rights
Volume 22/2, December 2020, pp 325 – 328 PDF Aynabat Yaylymova Turkmenistan, with a population of about 6 million, has, as of October 1, 2020, reported no SARS-CoV-2 infections, nor any COVID-19 related deaths.[1] There are no daily updates and barely any testing. However, there are reports of more deaths from acute respiratory illnesses than normal, and the autocratic government, known for endemic corruption, puts these down to dust and…
Continue reading “COVID-19 in Turkmenistan: No Data, No Health Rights”
UN Experts: Access to Contraception and Abortion Must Continue During COVID-19
UN Experts joined together to remind states of their human rights duty to ensure access to contraception for anyone who wants it, including during COVID-19. On World Contraception Day (26 September), the experts, led by the new Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, states, “The right to sexual and reproductive health includes women’s freedom to decide whether to be pregnant, how many children to have, and…
Continue reading “UN Experts: Access to Contraception and Abortion Must Continue During COVID-19”