Humans are always concerned about their own health as well as the health of those who are important to them. No matter our age, gender, socioeconomic status, or racial heritage, we view our health as our most fundamental and important asset.
On the other hand, being ill can prevent us from fulfilling family obligations, working or attending school, or fully engaging in community activities. In the same way, we are ready to give up a lot to ensure a longer and healthier life for ourselves and our families. In other words, when we discuss well-being, we frequently have health in mind.
One of our most fundamental human rights is the right to health.
The right to health is a universal one. We frequently link hospital construction and access to medical treatment with the right to health. This is true, but there are other aspects of the right to health.
It has a wide range of elements that can support living a healthy life. These are referred to as the “underlying determinants of health” by the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which is in charge of overseeing the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
Safe food, appropriate nutrition, adequate housing, healthy working and environmental circumstances, health-related education and information, and gender equality are among them. They also include safe drinking water and proper sanitation. • The right to health includes liberties. Among these liberties is the freedom from non-consensual medical care, such as medical.
• Everyone must have access to healthcare services, products, and facilities without restriction. The right to the best attainable standard of health can only be fully realised when non-discrimination is upheld, which is a fundamental human rights value (see the non-discrimination section below).
• All facilities, services, and products must be readily available, usable, acceptable, and of high quality. Functioning public health and health care facilities, goods, and services must be readily available within a State, and they must also be financially feasible, non-discriminatory, and physically accessible to all segments of the population, including children, adolescents, the elderly, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups. The right to seek, receive, and share health-related information in an accessible manner is also implied by accessibility.
Typical misunderstandings regarding the right to health • The right to health and the right to be healthy are two different things. It’s a frequent misperception that the State must ensure our wellbeing. However, a number of variables, such as a person’s biological make-up and socioeconomic circumstances, have an impact on good health and are not directly under the direct control of States.
Instead, the right to health refers to the freedom to take advantage of a range of resources, amenities, services, and environments that are required for its realisation. It is more accurate to refer to it as the right to the best possible level of bodily and mental health rather than an absolute right to be healthy because of this.
• The right to health goes beyond programmatic objectives.
WHO:
According to the preamble of the WHO Constitution, everyone has the right to the best possible level of health. It assigns WHO the role of providing global health leadership, directing the health research agenda, establishing norms and standards, outlining evidence-based policy alternatives, assisting nations with technical needs, and observing and evaluating health trends (art. 2).
It grants WHO broad authority to create health-related standards, as the 1981 International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes34, and to ratify legally binding treaties and conventions, like the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.35
The WHO Engaging for Health, Eleventh General Programme of Work 2006-2015: A Global Health Agenda also identifies seven priority areas, including advancing gender equality, universal coverage, and human rights associated with health.
HIV/AIDS and females
In many parts of the world, gender inequality and a lack of respect for women’s and girls’ rights are major contributors to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
For instance, women and girls may be unable to discuss safe sex practises due to the subordination of women to men in both private and public life. Women, especially young women, are particularly susceptible to infection.
Women often have limited access to the therapies that are available as well as adequate information. The stress of providing care also affects them disproportionately. States should implement laws and regulations that combat gender inequality and societal norms that fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS..
Additionally, they ought to guarantee equal access to resources for learning about and preventing HIV, as well as to health services. Significantly, they should protect women’s reproductive and sexual rights. Significant challenges to migrants’ right to health, especially those without documentation21 •
Migrants frequently lack access to health insurance and are generally only partially covered by state health systems. In particular, undocumented migrants and migrant sex workers have limited access to health and social services; migrants often have trouble finding out about health-related issues and services that are available.
Frequently, the state does not provide adequate information; undocumented migrants are afraid to seek medical attention for fear that their doctors will report them to immigration authorities; female domestic workers are especially susceptible to sexual abuse and violence; migrant workers frequently work in unsafe and unhealthy conditions; migrant workers may be more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour because they are in a vulnerable situation far from home. individuals with impairments .
Despite the fact that more than 650 million people worldwide (two thirds of whom reside in developing nations) have a disability of some kind, the majority have long been ignored and marginalised by the State and society.
Only recently have attitudes towards people with disabilities undergone a paradigm shift as a result of these individuals. They are now empowered as “subjects” of human rights, including but not limited to the right to health, shifting away from being considered as “objects” of charity and medical interventions.
Disability-related rights to health cannot be realised in a vacuum. It is directly related to the ideals of non-discrimination, individual liberty, participation in society, tolerance for diversity, and accessibility.
Children and teenagers
Due to the period of their physical and mental development, children are particularly susceptible to malnutrition, infectious infections, and, as they reach adolescence, difficulties with their sexual, reproductive, and mental health.
Acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, measles, malaria, and malnutrition—or a combination of these—are the main causes of most childhood fatalities. In this context, both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights recognise that States have a duty to lower infant and child mortality rates as well as fight sickness and hunger.
Additionally, a baby whose mother died from complications during pregnancy or childbirth has a higher risk of passing away young. Neglected diseases: a complex issue involving the right to health
Neglected diseases are ones that are significantly debilitating or life-threatening and for which there are no or insufficient therapeutic alternatives. Leishmaniasis (also known as kala-azar), onchocerciasis (river blindness), Chagas disease, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), and dengue fever are among them. Both tuberculosis and malaria are frequently seen as neglected diseases.6 Neglected diseases and human rights are clearly related:
• Poor and marginalised communities in low-income nations, rural areas, and environments where poverty is pervasive are almost solely affected by neglected diseases. Therefore, ensuring the fundamental components of the right to health is essential to lowering the prevalence of neglected diseases. Neglected diseases are both a cause and a result of discrimination. For instance, discrimination could keep those who are impacted.
