PHA-Exch> Food for a thought with an addedd value

[Claudio Schuftan]

Food for a thought with an added value   (1)

* *

Human Rights Reader 207



*HEALTH CARE AS A RIGHT: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW*. (Part 1 of 3)

1. The progressive weakening of public health systems, the growing
privatisation of health care and the erosion of universal access to health
care are phenomena seen across the globe. The health sector globally is
still dominated by vertical and techno-centric approaches, often supported
by ‘public-private partnerships’ active at several levels. There is thus an
urgent need to replace this dominant discourse by a process aimed at
universally achieving the ‘right to health and to health care’ as the main
objective to achieve more equitable health care systems in both developing
and developed countries. To counter and reverse the tide promoting ‘*health
care as a commodity*’, there is a need to establish a global consensus
on ‘*health
care as a right*’.



2. Human rights violations are not accidents; they are not random in
distribution or effect; they are linked to social conditions.  It is the
socio-political forces at work that determine the risk of most forms of
human rights violations. One has to understand human rights violations as
based on the broader analyses of power and social inequality and on their
social, economic and political determinants. The promotion of equity is the
central ingredient for respecting human rights in health.



3. It is mostly the poor who are the victims and they have too little voice,
little influence and trampled rights. It is inequities of power that prevent
the poor from accessing the opportunities they need to move out of poverty.
Structures and not just individuals must be changed if this state of affairs
is to change.



4. Since laws designed to protect human rights and the right to health (RTH)
are mostly not applied, what additional measures have to be taken?



5. It is not enough to improve the situation of the poor within the* *existing
social relationships. Rights are claimed through social action and the
latter depends on how power is distributed and used to address health
issues.



6. Human rights legislation alone --without enforcement mechanisms -- is not
up to the task of relieving the suffering already at hand. Rights are not
equal to laws --they are realised through social action and by changing the
prevailing power relations. Rights cannot be advanced but through the
organised efforts of the state and of organised civil society. To work on
behalf of the victims of violations of the RTH invariably means becoming
deeply involved in pressing for social and economic rights.



7. Public health must be linked to a return to social justice. Denial of
care to those who do not pay is simply legitimised in the free-market
system. The commodification of health care changes people from citizens with
rights to consumers with (or without) purchasing power. This leaves those
who are economically marginalised also marginalised from accessing
comprehensive health care.



*Claudio Schuftan, Laura Turiano and Abhay Shukla, People’s Health
Movement,Right to Health Campaign(see
www.phmovement.org ).*
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