PHA-Exchange> Last publication on Human Rights - Right to Health CETIM

[claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn]

The CETIM (Europe-Third World Centre) has just published the fourth 
number of its series of didactic brochures and critical analysis about 
certain human rights: the Right to Health.
This brochure is available for free in French, English and Spanish** and 
can be ordered at the CETIM for organisations and social movements. It 
can be downloaded/printed on our website : www.cetim.ch
Please find above a short presentation of this publication.
In solidarity
The CETIM*


	*THE RIGHT TO HEALTH
/Part of a series of the Human Rights Programme of the CETIM./*

*At first glance, it might seem misplaced to speak of health as a right 
when ever increasing segments of the world's population are witnessing a 
steady degradation in the state of their health, to the point where 
their very existence is threatened.

Further, most of the world's disease -- like most of its death -- 
results from the non-satisfaction of basic needs, the lack of, and/or 
non-access to, sanitation, potable water and food being surely the 
greatest and most pressing. The development of public health in the 
nineteenth century in Europe and the United States shows that the most 
significant interventions for the improvement of the health of 
populations do not involve health services per se. Rather, the 
realization of the right to health is dependent on the realization of 
economic, social and cultural rights: food; housing; hygiene; proper 
work condi­tions; the exercise of various freedoms, in particular those 
associated with trade unions; etc. It is also directly related to peace 
and security.

In other words, the preservation and promotion of health imply more than 
just access to medical care and medicines.The iniquitous international 
order responsible for widespread inequalities and poverty prevents the 
realization of the right to health.

However, some thirty years ago already, the international community 
seemed to have become aware of this situation and of the importance of 
inter­national cooperation if it were to be rectified, and it declared: 
"The existing gross inequality in the health status of the people 
particularly between de­veloped and developing countries as well as 
within countries is politically, so­cially and economically unacceptable 
and is, therefore, of common concern to all countries."
Today, the situation is dramatically worse. It is indisputable that the 
recognition of the right to health, such as it is expressed in 
international instru­ments, is not enough for its realization The 
affirmation of health as a human right and the definition of its 
relation to other human rights are essential to cla­rify the obligations 
of those variously involved in its realization.

Thus, this brochure, divided into three parts:
I. the right to health, a recognized right;
II. the right to health, an interdependent an indissociable right;
III. the implementation of the right to health. * * **

*/Editions du CETIM, 68 pages, 2006, URL: 
//http://www.cetim.ch/en/publications_sante-bro4.php/


-- 
CETIM - Centre Europe-Tiers Monde
6, rue Amat
1202 Genève
Suisse
Tél.: +41 22 731 59 63
Fax: +41 22 731 91 52
www.cetim.ch


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