Using international human rights law to improve child health in low-income countries: a framework for healthcare professionals

BMC International Health and Human Rights

Debate

Stephen Allen¹  Delan Devakumar²  Bernadette Ann-Marie O’Hare³ 

[1] Department of Medical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK;Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, UCL, London, UK;School of Public Health and Paediatrics and Child Health, College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi;Global Health Implementation, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland;

关键词: Human rights;    Children;    Health professionals;    Health;    Duty bearers;    United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12914-016-0083-1

 received in 2015-11-13, accepted in 2016-02-23,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that the right to health is closely related to, and dependent upon, the realization of other human rights, including the right to food, water, education and shelter which are important determinants of health. Children’s healthcare workers in low income settings may spend the majority of their professional lives trying to mitigate deficiencies of these rights but have little influence over them. In order to advocate successfully at a local level, we should be aware of the proportion of children living in our catchment population who do not have access to their basic rights. In order to carry out a rights audit, a framework within which healthcare workers could play their part is required, as is an agreed minimum core of rights, a timeframe and a set of indicators.DiscussionA framework to assess how well states and their developmental partners are adhering to human rights principles is discussed, including the role that a healthcare worker might optimally play. A minimum core of economic and social rights seeks to establish a legal minimum set of protections, which should be available with immediate effect and applicable to all nations despite very different resources. Minimum core rights and the impact that progressive realisation may have had on the right to health is discussed, including what they should include from the perspective of children’s health. A set of absolute rights are suggested, based on physiological needs and aligned with the corresponding articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The development indicators which are likely to be used to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals is suggested as a way to monitor rights. We consider the ways in which the healthcare worker could use a rights audit to advocate with, and for their community.SummaryThese audits could achieve several objectives. They may legitimise healthcare workers’ interests in the determinants of health and, as they are often highly respected by their community, this may facilitate them to be agents for change at a local level. This may raise awareness on basic human rights and their importance to health and contribute to a needed change in mind-set from one of development needs to absolute rights. The results may catalyse colleagues to analyse further the upstream reasons why children, and the families in which they live, are not having their rights met.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© O’Hare et al. 2016