Health is of special value to individuals and communities at large. Good health is of great importance and is necessary for human well-being. Health not only provides intrinsic value in the form of comfort and physical integrity, its importance extends far greater than that and lies in its ability to allow individuals to exercise both civil (e.g. education and family life) as well as economic (e.g. employment) human rights. Without a decent level of health, it is very difficult to ensure economic prosperity and political participation (WHO 2008). The right to health is a fundamental part of human rights and of our understanding of a life of dignity. The right to health however is not absolute and has been variously defined over time. According to the Universal declaration of human rights, it is the ‘right to a standard of living adequate for the health an d well-being of himself, and his family’ (Nations 1948). Despite being enshrined in the charters of WHO and in several binding international treaties and constitutions(UN 2000), the right to health is by no means guaranteed and remains beyond the reach of many individuals. With the aim to address some of the issues regarding the unequal distribution of healthcare within a global context, I became involved in a health screening and delivery project based in the Pipeline Community of Internally Displaced persons in Kenya. I completed this 2 week project in November 2013 in association with the SoTheyCan foundation alongside four other medical students from the university as well as Dr James Robertson, a Sydney based GP. During this project, I worked with the ‘Holding Hands Children’s Home’ and ‘Abedare Rangers Primary school’ as well as the community medical clinic operated by t... ... middle of paper ... ...nsibility to contribute back to the community (Coulehan et al 2003) and be leaders for change and improvement. The right to health is an inclusive right, extending beyond healthcare to include the social determinants of health. Non-discrimination, equal treatment and respect for a person’s dignity are all critical components to this right to health. My experiences in Kenya have revealed to me the social and health inequities that continue to exist in the world today. I have been humbled by my observations and experiences and left with a desire to contribute to the movement to initiate and sustain change. Hopefully one day, we will witness a society where health is maximised and the gap in health is closed. Until then, we can either choose to close our eyes to see this imaginary future, or use our own hands to progressively work to building this future ourselves.
A human rights based approach is used to look at the inequalities which are created within development problems, this happens when there is a biased distributions of power that slow development progress. The human rights based approach is used to ensure that the dignity of every individual is centre to decision making. The importance of adopting a human rights approach to care is that it helps to involve the service user to know what their human rights are and it guarantees that every service user is receiving a good quality service and have a feeling of safety within their care environment. Adopting a human rights approach within a care setting means that the services should always be promoting equality and respecting diversity to every individual within the service and it helps to ensure that no one is being favorited or left ignored. The human rights based approach lets individual’s voices be heard and allows for anyone who feels mistreated or unhappy with a service to make a complaint or have an formal investigation carried out. The human rights based approach is important within care as it provides staff with the resources and tools to try and help service users to strengthen their abilities which can make a huge impact
This was launched to help health and social settings to implement human rights based approaches to improve the standard of care given to services users and how they deliver the service. This helps to reduce the risk of abuse as it helps to implement human right into practice and services, placing more value on them. this helps to reduce an unintentional abuse and it helps the organisations to recognition when someone’s rights are not being met and to take action to prevent this from happening, increasing the standard of care people receive and reduce the risk of abuse,
Poor health and inadequate health care are often related to human rights violations; violation that under fulfillment of human rights are often due to poor health and lack of access to health care. The link is direct in the case of other basic social and economic human rights such as the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself, and one¡¦s family. Nevertheless, poverty and lack of health protection are indirectly linked to failures to secure civil rights.
Pillay, Navanethem. "Right to Health and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."The Lancet 372.9655 (2008): 2005-6. ProQuest.Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
In conclusion, the ultimate significance to this type of work is to improve the quality of healthcare in these extremely impoverished nations. This argument is represented in Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, Monte Leach’s “Ensuring Health Care as a Global Human Right”, and Darshark Sanghavi’s “Is it Cost Effective to Treat the World’s Poor.” The idea that universal healthcare is a human right is argued against in Michael F. Cannon’s “A “Right” to health care?” Cannon claims that it would not work, and fills the holes that the other authors leave in their arguments. All of these articles share the same ultimate goal, and that is to provide every individual with adequate health care, and to not let so many people die from things that could easily have been prevented or treated.
Farmer, Paul, and Nicole Gastineau. 2002. Rethinking Health and Human Rights: Time for a Paradigm Shift.
As defined in the World Health Organization’s constitution (2006), health is the state of absolute well-being in the physical, mental, and social aspects and not merely the absence of disease or frailty. The definition of health adapted by most scholars encompasses all the dimensions of a person’s well-being, not only focusing on physical health. It also emphasizes that health does not equate to not having any sickness.
Universal health care is defined as evidence-based practices and services which are available, accessible, affordable and acceptable by all people unrelated of their age, sex, religion, origin, nationality, socioeconomic status or geographic background. This definition leads to question if universal health care is an entity all Americans should have a right to? Though universal access to health care is alleged to raise taxes, create a shortage of doctors and can ride the fine line of spiraling the United States into socialism, it carries the possibility of saving lives. The right to equal health care should be granted to all Americans because it can improve public health by diagnosing and treating otherwise unmet health needs. It can allow those with chronic medical needs a broader access to necessary care and medications. The right to equal health care may also help improve upon economic productivity by decreasing financial loss.
Based on World Health Organisation (WHO) report, difficulties in accessing to the health services are the most important factors of inequity in health (Clark et al., 2014). Although most countries are aware of the impact of these factors and try to decrease the gap between health statuses of different groups in their society, the inequity still exists (Rumbold & Dickson-Swift, 2012). Data from a cross-sectional study on African refugee’s health in Melbourne, Australia, indicates that 50% of participations had difficulties in accessing to health services with mentioning communication as the most important one (Neale, Ngeow, Skull & Biggs, 2007). There are also some evidence that proves the differences in health outcome for refugees and migrant population as a case in point, refugee workers in Australia are more likely to be hurt at work (Shaw, Dorling & Smith,
In some way, public health is seen as a modern philosophical and ideological perspective based on ‘equity’ and aimed to determine inequitable in society. It seen as a ‘science’ and ‘art’ in the sense that it deals with the cause of disease, treatment of illness as well as it involves laboratory experiments, intervention and promoting of health of the population. Winslow (1920, p. 23) defined public health as ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting physical health and efficiency through organised community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control community infections, the education of the individual in principles of personal hygiene, the organisation of medical and nursing service for early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of social machinery which will ensure to every individual in the community a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health. On the other hand, it is ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organised effort of society’ (Acheson, 1998; in Cowley S, 2002, p. 261).
Odhiambo s, Agnes. " Human Rights Watch." Kenya: When Childbirth Leads to Disability and Despair. Human Rights Watch, 20 august 2013. Web. 5 Nov 2013.
Resources have always been inadequate for food, economics and healthcare and all scarce resources are rationed in one way or another. Healthcare resources can be in the forms of medicine, machinery, expensive treatment and organ transplantation. For decades, allocation of healthcare resources in an equitable manner has always been the subject of debate, concern and analysis, yet the issue has persistently resisted resolution. Scarcity of resources for healthcare and issue of allocation is permanent and inescapable (Harris, “Deciding between Patients”). Scarcity can be defined in general, in emergency and in crises as well as shortage of certain kind of treatment, medicine or organs. As a result of scarcity of resources, and some people may be left untreated or die when certain patients are prioritized and intention of is that everyone will ultimately be treated (Harris, 2009: 335). Allocation of limited resources is an ethical issue since it is vital to address the question of justice and making fair decisions. Ethical judgments and concerns are part of daily choice in allocation of health resources and also to ensure these resources are allocated in a fair and just way. This paper will explore how QALYs, ageism and responsibility in particular influence the allocation of healthcare resources in general through the lens of justice, equity, social worth, fairness, and deservingness.
The human right to health means that everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, which includes access to all medical services, sanitation, adequate food, healthy working conditions, and a clean environment. (“What is the Human Right to Health and Health Care”, n.d.). Health should be a human right and should have access to all people. It will also show that all human beings are treated equally. Many people ask this question is Health a human right? Should people have given access to human right? I believe that health should be a human right because it provides quality of life, encourage equity, provide prevention and awareness and eliminate discrimination among people.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report (2000) Human Rights and Human Development (New York) p.19 [online] Available from: [Accessed 2 March 2011]
The Department of Global Health and population (GHP) diligently helps to improve health education, research, and finds new ways to help maintain and plan efficient ways to manage the world’s quickly growing population. The department’s research interests span a wide spectrum of topics, including social and economic development, health policy, and demography; design and financing of health care systems; women’s and children’s health; prevention and control of infectious and chronic diseases; and geographic information systems (GIS). The department has a special concern with questions of health equity and human rights, particularly in relation to health and population issues in developing countries. The department’s approach to these problems combines ...