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Right to health

Right to health is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Right to health rather than just read about it. In short: The right to health is the economic, social, and cultural right to a universal minimum standard of health to which all individuals are entitled. The concept of a right to health has been enumerated in international agreements which include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Right to health — main illustration
Right to health — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Right to health belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Right to health to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Right to health from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The right to health is the economic, social, and cultural right to a universal minimum standard of health to which all individuals are entitled. The concept of a right to health has been enumerated in international agreements which include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. There is debate on the interpretation, application, and existence of the right to health due to considerations such as how health is defined, what minimum entitlements are encompassed in a right to health, and which institutions are responsible for ensuring a right to health. The Human Rights Measurement Initiative measures the right to health for countries around the world, based on their level of income.

Definition

Constitution of the World Health Organization (1946) The preamble of the 1946 World Health Organization (WHO) Constitution defines health broadly as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." The Constitution defines the right to health as "the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health," and enumerates some principles of this right as healthy child development; equitable dissemination of medical knowledge and its benefits; and government-provided social measures to ensure adequate health. Frank P. Grad credits the WHO Constitution as "claiming ... the full area of contemporary international public health," establishing the right to health as a "fundamental, inalienable human right" that governments cannot abridge, and are rather obligated to protect and uphold. The WHO Constitution, notably, marks the first formal demarcation of a right to health in international law.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Article 25 of the United Nations' 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "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." The Universal Declaration makes additional accommodations for security in case of physical debilitation or disability, and makes special mention of care given to those in motherhood or childhood. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is noted as the first international declaration of fundamental human rights, both freedoms and entitlements alike. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay writes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "enshrines a vision that requires taking all human rights—civil, political, economic, social, or cultural—as an indivisible and organic whole, inseparable and interdependent." Likewise, Gruskin et al. contend that the interrelated nature of the rights expressed in the Universal Declaration establishes a "responsibility [that] extends beyond the provision of essential health services to tackling the determinants of health such as, provision of adequate education, housing, food, and favourable working conditions," further stating that these provisions "are human rights themselves and are necessary for health."

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965) Health is briefly addressed in the United Nations' International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which was adopted in 1965 and entered into effect in 1969. The Convention calls upon States to "Prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law," and references under this provision "The right to public health, medical care, social security and social services."

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)

The United Nations further defines the right to health in Article 12 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which states:

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for: The reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child; The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene; The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases; The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness.

General Comment No. 14 (2000) In 2000, the United Nations' Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights issued General Comment No. 14, which addresses "substantive issues arising in the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights" with respect to Article 12 and "the right to the highest attainable standard of health." The General Comment provides more explicit, operational language on the freedoms and entitlements included under a right to health, The General Comment makes the direct clarification that "the right to health is not to be understood as a right to be healthy." Instead, the right to health is articulated as a set of both freedoms and entitlements which accommodate the individual's biological and social conditions as well as the State's available resources, both of which may preclude a right to be healthy for reasons beyond the influence or control of the State. Article 12 tasks the State with recognizing that each individual holds an inherent right to the best feasible standard of health, and itemizes (at least in part) the 'freedoms from' and 'entitlements to' that accompany such a right; however, it does not charge the State with ensuring that all individuals, in fact, are fully healthy, nor that all individuals have made full recognition of the rights and opportunities enumerated in the right to health.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Right to health: Protestors rally for the right to health in Pakistan
Protestors rally for the right to health in Pakistan
Right to health: Romanian activists create a "25" using umbrellas, a reference to Article 25 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Romanian activists create a "25" using umbrellas, a reference to Article 25 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Right to health: States Parties and signatories of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Parties and signatories to the ICESCR:.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}  Signed and ratified  Signed but not ratified  Neither signed nor ratified
States Parties and signatories of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Parties and signatories to the ICESCR:.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}  Signed and ratified  Signed but not ratified  Neither signed nor ratified
Right to health: Lisa Murkowski at 2019 Alaska State of Reform Health Policy Conference
Lisa Murkowski at 2019 Alaska State of Reform Health Policy Conference
Right to health: Participation in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW):   Party through signature and ratification   Party through accession or succession   Unrecognized state, abiding by treaty   Only signed   Non-signatory
Participation in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW):   Party through signature and ratification   Party through accession or succession   Unrecognized state, abiding by treaty   Only signed   Non-signatory

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Right to health

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Right to health claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Right to health before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Right to health ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Right to health

In research
Right to health appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Right to health in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Right to health is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Global health, Health economics, Health education, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Right to health outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study Right to health in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Right to health means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Right to health out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Right to health in simple terms?

The right to health is the economic, social, and cultural right to a universal minimum standard of health to which all individuals are entitled. The concept of a right to health has been enumerated in international agreements which include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Co…

Why does Right to health matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Right to health?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Right to health.

Tags

  • Global health
  • Health economics
  • Health education
  • Health sciences
  • Health standards
  • Right to health
  • Social problems in medicine

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