Health is a basic human right. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human
Rights in 1948 first laid forth 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".
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The Declaration stemmed from the unprecedented human rights violations occurring
during the Second World War, including the lack of comprehensive medical services
and attacks on health care facilities. Since, the 1966 International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) solidified the right to health, which, today,
has become widely recognized within the human rights discourse.
1
Nevertheless, health and access to health care remain some of the most elusive goals
in modern society, with widespread inequities between and within countries.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- The Right to Health.World Health Organization, Geneva2008
- Global Surgery 2030: evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare, and economic development.Lancet. 2015; https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60160-X
- Global burden of surgical disease: an estimation from the provider perspective.Lancet Glob Heal. 2015; 3 (S8-S9)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(14)70384-5
- Size and distribution of the global volume of surgery in 2012.Bull World Health Organ. 2016; 94: 201-209Fhttps://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.15.159293
- World health assembly resolution WHA68.15: “strengthening emergency and essential surgical care and anesthesia as a component of universal health coverage”—addressing the public health gaps arising from lack of safe, affordable and accessible surgical and.World J Surg. 2015; 39: 2115-2125https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-015-3153-y
- Essential surgery: integral to the right to health.Health Hum Rights. 2010; 12: 137-152
- What is a human-rights based approach to health and does it matter?.Health Hum Rights. 2008; 10: 65-80
- How women are treated during facility-based childbirth in four countries: a cross-sectional study with labour observations and community-based surveys.Lancet. 2019; 394: 1750-1763https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31992-0
- Making all deaths after surgery count.Lancet. 2019; 393: 2587https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31114-6
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 18, 2020
Accepted:
April 12,
2020
Received in revised form:
April 6,
2020
Received:
March 31,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
