PHA-Exchange> The right to health: more than rhetoric -Lancet (3)

[Claudio]

From: "Intal - Wim De Ceukelaire" <wim.deceukelaire at intal.be>

It's true that the Lancet editorial made a selective reading of the report. 
On the other hand, Paul Hunt's report is also rather reductionistic.

You can find the whole report (which makes reference to PHM's right to 
health and health care campaign)  here:
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/4session/A.HRC.4.26.pdf

I pasted the report's conclusions below:

90.      In 2006, the Special Rapporteur explained to the Human Rights 
Council that,
working in close collaboration with others, he hoped to have sufficient 
resources to identify
and examine the key features of a health system that were reflective of the 
international
human right to health (see E/CN.4/2006/48, para. 21). In the interactive 
dialogue following
the presentation of his report, the Special Rapporteur was encouraged to 
take this idea
forward. Although the subject is extremely ambitious and his resources 
equally limited,
the Special Rapporteur is trying to respond to this interest by beginning to 
explore this
challenging issue.
91.      The right to the highest attainable standard of health can be 
understood as a right
to an effective and integrated health system, encompassing health care and 
the underlying
determinants of health, which is responsive to national and local 
priorities, and accessible
to all . More specifically, however, when looking at
a health system from the right-to-health perspective, what are the key 
components that need
to be present? For example, from a human rights perspective a health system 
will have to
include an adequate system for the collection of health data; otherwise, it 
will be impossible for the State, or any other interested party, to monitor 
the progressive realization of the right to health.
Moreover, the data must be disaggregated on certain grounds, such as sex, 
age and
urban/rural, otherwise it will be impossible to monitor the progressive 
realization of the
right to health in relation to vulnerable populations, such as women, 
children and those
living in remote rural communities.
92.      Also, from the right-to-health perspective, a health system will 
have to include a
national capacity to produce a sufficient number of well-trained health 
workers who enjoy
good terms and conditions of employment; a process for the preparation of 
right-to-health
impact assessments before major health-related policies are finalized; 
arrangements for
ensuring, as much as possible, “bottom-up” participation in the formulation 
of health
policies; effective, transparent and accessible mechanisms of 
accountability; and so on.
93.      These are some of the issues that the Special Rapporteur is 
beginning to explore
with a view to identifying some of the key features of a health system from 
the
right-to-health perspective. He invites others to support and collaborate 
with him in this
very major undertaking and he hopes to have the opportunity to report 
further to the
Council as this work unfolds.