Better Health For All

How can we apply the principles of human rights to our work in Public Health? While many of us have some training in medical or bio ethics, few of us have more than a superficial understanding of human rights. In advocacy work around migration I have often found myself quoting from various documents such as invoking the ‘right to the highest attainable standard of health’ from the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights but rarely have I fully understood the context. Therefore when the opportunity came to attend a seminar in Salzburg on ‘Human Rights in Patient Care’, I jumped at the opportunity. Expanding on the concept of ‘Patient Rights’, the seminar took a broader viewpoint to capture all stakeholders in the delivery of care. 

Alongside doctors and lawyers from such places as Sudan, Vietnam and Slovakia I spent a week studying international human rights law and practice, gaining a better overview of these tools and frameworks. A highlight was meeting the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Care, Dainius Pūrus, who gave us his perspective on the major global issues facing health care today. These ranged from the lack of access to services for vulnerable groups, to the overuse of interventions in ever more settings. 

While a week may not be long enough to become an expert in human rights, I was left with an appreciation of the landscape. However in order to ensure that this knowledge could be easily called upon, the course organisers and many of the attendees have been working on developing ‘practitioner guides’ for both doctors and lawyers. These guides, give an overview of the laws, alongside practical examples of their application and I highly recommend anyone interested in framing health issues around human rights to explore them. The guides are country specific but start with the international frameworks and are therefore relevant globally.  Sadly there is no specific guide for the UK, but developing this could be a project for a small team. In fact considering such a process was an exercise at the seminar and there is much support available. 

Human rights should be an essential consideration in health care delivery at all levels, not least public health. Indeed many of our approaches are strongly aligned with the human rights agenda. Of concern in my work is the treatment of undocumented migrants in the NHS, where many are denied or deterred from accessing essential treatment, with concerning ethical and public health consequences. Better knowledge of human rights law gives us another string to our bow in order to better advocate for a more equitable, rights based approach to care.   

Robert Verrecchia is a London-based, public health registrar with an interest in international public health and migration and health. He is currently working with the FPH on their 5 year strategy and on migration, health and ethics. He also works with Chatham House, Public Health England’s Global Health Division and co-chairs the Médecins Sans Frontières UK Take Action Group. You can follow Robert on Twitter @Rob_Verrecchia.