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healthcare as a right
patterns of inequality in health and illness
patterns of inequality in health and illness
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Social Work Interventions and Strategies to promote Health Rights – A Panel Discussion
Ragland Remo Paul*
Introduction:
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the General Assembly of the United Nations on the 10th December 1948 states as follows;
“(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.”
This is the basis on which the concept note of this conference has been formulated. People’s Health Assembly on the 8th December 2000 endorsed the People’s Charter for Health, which states as follows,
“HEALTH AS A HUMAN RIGHT – Health is a reflection of a society’s commitment to equity and justice. Health and human rights should prevail over economic and political concerns. This Charter calls on people of the world to:
9. Support all attempts to implement the right to health.
10. Demand that governments and international organizations reformulate, implement and enforce policies and practices, which respect the right to health.
11. Build broad-based popular movements to pressure governments to incorporate health and human rights into national constitutions and legislation.
12. Fight the exploitation of people’s health needs for purposes of profit.”
Violations or non-existence of human rights and in specific in health rights is not a result of any single factor. Health is not merely a physical issue. It is a social, economic and political issue and above all a fundamental human right. Inequality, poverty, exploitation, violence and injustice have been instrumental in the violation of health rights for the poor and marginalized (and in some cases the rich and those with access to health care.)
Here today at this panel discussion we are going to try and explore the interventions and strategies that we as social workers can do to promote health rights. This paper does not claim to provide for the entire list of interventions and strategies to promote health rights, but will certainly look at some critical areas. The main attempt of this paper is to set our minds thinking in this critical area of human rights, to innovate and formulate strategies to promote health rights.
Yamin, Alicia Ely. "The Right to Health Under International Law and Its Relevance to the United States." American Journal of Public Health 95.7 (2005): 1156-1161. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.
In the United States, many would believe that all individuals have a right to health care. These citizens believe that everyone should have access to health care and that everyone should have an equal opportunity to get the care they need for themselves and their family. The United States of America has been built with many documents that can be interpreted to support the belief that health care should be a right for everyone.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted on December 10, 1948. Each of the 30 articles in this declaration defines rights humans need, from basic resources and education to freedom of thought and speech. Article 2 states, “Everyone
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
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.
All human persons have the right to live, however the quality of life is dependent on the circumstances of the person. Roughly half of the world’s population lives in poverty; a term used to describe populations being unable to afford the most basic necessities to ensure survival. Singer (1993), suggests populations suffering from poverty do not receive the same right to life as those who are situated within developed countries. Singer (1993), proposes that all humans should be classified to be equal based on “the principle of equal consideration” (p21). It is through this principle that the consequences of ones actions are weighed up against the benefits and interests of those who are affected by such actions (Singer, 1993). The principle aims to target the population of those located in
Human rights, specially those belonging to the first generation, as they are expressed in "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights" of December, 10th, 1948, are the end product of a long...
There are many inequities in this global world; should there be such gross inequities in the health of people around the world? We hear words like health gap, health care inequality and sustainability. What can be done to eliminate the health gap, health care inequities and maintain sustainability? The World Health Organization (WHO) and other organizations, private and public are working towards eliminating these disparities. Healthy People 2020 are one such goal that has achieved considerable progress in attaining sustainability in the pursuit of global health goals (Gostin et al., 2013). The health gap can be minimized through health strategies. Among them are essentials for all in this global world; clean air, water, healthy food and adequate housing with hygienic living conditions. Primary, secondary, tertiary prevention and care services should be available to all who seek health care services.
On December 10th in 1948, the general assembly adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration, although not legally binding, created “a common standard of achievement of all people and all nations…to promote respect for those rights and freedoms” (Goodhart, 379). However, many cultures assert that the human rights policies outlined in the declaration undermine cultural beliefs and practices. This assertion makes the search for universal human rights very difficult to achieve. I would like to focus on articles 3, 14 and 25 to address how these articles could be modified to incorporate cultural differences, without completely undermining the search for human rights practices.
Declaration of Human Rights: Dignity and Justice for All of Us. Accessed on October 29,
According to the World Health Organisation health is “A state of well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” (WHO,1946)
The right to health contains entitlements. These entitlements are access to essential medicines, the right to prevention, treatment, and control of disease, maternal, health related education, and participation. Prevention plays an important role in maintain public health, particularly children’s health. Vaccinating children, as well as awareness campaigns, can lead to a significant reduction in health risks. Additionally, spreading basic information about hygiene, nutritional needs, etc., as well as the circulation of simple illustrations reminding people of the fundamental rules are very efficient actions for informing populations and improving healthy behavior. (“Understanding Children’s Right to Health”, n.d.). Therefore, if people have right to health it will result into prevention and more awareness about
While there is no clear definition for ‘human rights’, it is possible to describe them as basic moral and legal rights that all people have, simply in virtue of their humanity. Although human rights are traditionally associated with being civil and political rights, they also include socioeconomic rights. Focusing on a political conception of human rights, it is important to note that not every question of social justice is a human rights issue. Despite UN declarations, many do not consider poverty a violation of human rights. Severe poverty, traditionally defined in terms of low income, concerns insecurity caused by a lack of resources. By the UN dividing its human rights law into two separate treaties, countries are able to endorse civil
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 ...
Primary Health Care is crucial or vital care made globally attainable to individuals and families in the community by means they approve to, through their full contribution and at a cost that the community and country can manage. It forms a basic part both of the country’s health system of which it is the core and the inclusive of social and economic evaluation of the community. In other words primary health care targets on providing affordable, attainable and suitable services for the obstructive treatment and management of disease procedure. In 1978, the dispute of public health that is shielding the greatest level of health for the highest number of people formed the agenda for a meeting of public health representatives from 134 countries, universally . It was held in Alma Ata ( A city in the former USSR ) to build new ideas and new mottos in public health. Their focus was to authorize people to have command over decisions that affected their own health, families and communities. Also to reduce inequities. The promising statement for World Health Organization was “ Health for All ” (HFA). The paramount of Primary Health Care was aiding of proper nutrition and an adequate supply of safe water, basic sanitation, child and maternal care, including family planning, immunization against the major infectious diseases, prevention and stabilizing of endemic diseases, education empowerment, conquering health problems and methods of preventing and controlling them, and suitab...