Wednesday, December 10, 2008

[EQ] Health systems and the right to health: an assessment of 194 countries

The Lancet released a special report on the right to health on 10 December 2008
International Human Rights Day, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal

 

Health systems and the right to health: an assessment of 194 countries

 

Gunilla Backman MSc a   , Paul Hunt MJur b,  Rajat Khosla LLM b,  Camila Jaramillo-Strouss LLM d,  Belachew Mekuria Fikre LLM b,  Caroline Rumble MBChB b,
David Pevalin PhD c, David Acurio Páez MPH e,  Mónica Armijos Pineda MA e, Ariel Frisancho MHPPF f, Duniska Tarco MD g, Mitra Motlagh LLM h, Dana Farcasanu MPH i, Cristian Vladescu PhD j

a Nordic School of Public Health, Gothenburg, Sweden

b Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, Colchester, UK

c School of Health and Human Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester, UK

d Office of the Mayor of Bogata, Colombia

e Foundation for Alterative Social Development, Cuenca, Ecuador

f Health Team National Coordinator, CARE Peru, Lima, Peru

g National Health Council Secretariat, Ministry of Health, Lima, Peru

h WHO-Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines

i Centre of Health Policies and Services, Bucharest, Romania

j Department of Public Health, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania

 

 

Website: www.thelancet.com  [subscription required]

 

 

“…….60 years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights laid the foundations for the right to the highest attainable standard of health. This right is central to the creation of equitable health systems. We identify some of the right-to-health features of health systems, such as a comprehensive national health plan, and propose 72 indicators that reflect some of these features.

 

We collect globally processed data on these indicators for 194 countries and national data for Ecuador, Mozambique, Peru, Romania, and Sweden. Globally processed data were not available for 18 indicators for any country, suggesting that organisations that obtain such data give insufficient attention to the right-to-health features of health systems.

 

Where they are available, the indicators show where health systems need to be improved to better realise the right to health. We provide recommendations for governments, international bodies, civil-society organisations, and other institutions and suggest that these indicators and data, although not perfect, provide a basis for the monitoring of health systems and the progressive realisation of the right to health. Right-to-health features are not just good management, justice, or humanitarianism, they are obligations under human-rights law….”

 

 

Comment Dec 10, 2008

Right to health and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Navanethem Pillay

The right to health is a fundamental part of our human rights and of our understanding of a life in dignity. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights1 enshrines a vision that requires taking all human rights—civil, political, economic, social, or cultural—as an indivisible and organic whole, inseparable and interdependent, and all of equal importance. Economic, social, and cultural rights cannot be fully achieved where civil and political rights are curtailed, and civil and political rights cannot be fully exercised where economic, social, and cultural rights are neglected.

 

Comment Dec 10, 2008


Why and how is health a human right?

Amartya Sen


In doing a special issue on the right to health, The Lancet is helping to draw attention to an extraordinarily important subject that does not get as much attention as it deserves. There are understandable reasons why the perspective of the right to health seems to many to be remote. First, there is what we might call the legal question: how can health be a right since there is no binding legislation demanding just that? Second, there is the feasibility question: how can the state of being in good health be a right, when there is no way of ensuring that everyone does have good health? Third, there is the policy question: why think of health, rather than health care, as a right, since health care is under the control of policy making, not the actual state of health of the people?


Comment
Dec 10, 2008

Rights-based approaches to improve people's health in Peru

Ariel Frisancho, Jay Goulden


Peru is challenged by poverty, discrimination, and inequity, including starkly different morbidity and mortality rates and a high prevalence of avoidable illnesses and deaths in people who are poor, indigenous populations, and excluded groups.1,2 Raising the importance of the right to health as a core obligation to be fulfilled and implementing rights-based approaches within health-sector development in Peru has proven helpful to tackle these challenges. Rights-based approaches, and their principles of inclusion, participation, and fulfilment of obligation, tackle the underlying causes of poverty and disadvantage, and work in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders to address these causes.

Comment

Dec 10, 2008

Gender equality and the right to health

Hedia Belhadj, Aminata Touré

 

Expanding access to health is fundamental to human security and human rights. People who are poor daily face health-related insecurity, from food shortages to limited access to drinkable water, physical violence, or ignorance about disease prevention. In our globalised world, the transnational flows of ideas, people, and new lifestyles, but also diseases, have created new challenges for those who are already left behind in the journey of human development. The vast majority of them are women.

Close

 

Editorial Dec 10, 2008

The right to health: from rhetoric to reality

The Lancet  


Human Rights Day on Dec 10 marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). A year ago, in the run up to this important milestone, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched a campaign that aimed to increase knowledge and awareness of human rights. During the course of the year, many governments and educational, cultural, and human rights institutions have reaffirmed their commitment to the values and principles of the UDHR. The health sector has been strikingly silent, which is tremendously disappointing given that the foundation for the right to health is laid out in this historic document

 

 

 

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
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[EQ] European Commission Green paper on the EU Workforce for Health out for consultation

From: David McDaid - LSE Health and Social Care

 

Green Paper on EU Workforce for Health now out for consultation


European Commission - December 2008

 

Website: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_systems/workforce_en.htm

 

The Commission state that "the aim of the Green Paper is to increase the visibility of these issues, to generate a clearer picture of the extent to which local and/or national health managers face the same challenges and to engage stakeholders in the debate so as to help those responsible across Europe to address these problems effectively. The public consultation process sets out to obtain stakeholders' views on a wide range of issues connected with the healthcare workforce and preparing for the care of an ageing population. The results of the consultation will feed in to our consideration of what the EU can do to support Member States in tackling these challenges."

 

The Green Paper is available in English, French and German at http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_systems/docs/workforce_gp_en.pdf


Responses on issues raised in this Green paper, should be submitted no later than 31 March 2009, preferably to  
SANCO-health-workforce@ec.europa.eu to the following address: European Commission, B-1049, Brussels, Belgium

 

Unless respondents make a declaration to the contrary, the Commission services will assume that they do not object to having their responses, or parts thereof, published on the Commission's website and/or quoted in reports analysing the outcome of the consultation process.

 

“…..There are a number of challenges facing health systems in Europe. People are living longer, new technology is making it possible to increase the range and quality of, often, expensive treatments. There are new and re-emerging threats to health eg from communicable diseases and citizens have ever-rising expectations about having access to the best possible healthcare.

Developing effective and efficient health systems able to respond to the challenges they face depends to a considerable extent on having a high-quality health workforce of sufficient capacity and with the right skills, and for the European Union that means throughout the Member States.

In light of the fact that Member States are facing a number of common problems with their health workforces, there is much to be gained by promoting cooperation and common approaches between the Member States. The European Community can add value by supporting this. The aim of the Green Paper is to increase the visibility of these issues, to generate a clearer picture of the extent to which local and/or national health managers face the same challenges and to engage stakeholders in the debate so as to help those responsible across Europe to address these problems effectively.

The public consultation process sets out to obtain stakeholders' views on a wide range of issues connected with the healthcare workforce and preparing for the care of an ageing population. The results of the consultation will feed in to our consideration of what the EU can do to support Member States in tackling these challenges….”

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. RATIONALE FOR THE GREEN PAPER

3. LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND BASIS FOR ACTION AT EU LEVEL

4. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE WORKFORCE FOR HEALTH IN THE EU AND THE MAIN ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED

4.1 Demography and the promotion of a sustainable health workforce

4.2. Public Health Capacity

4.3. Training

4.4. Managing mobility of health workers within the EU

4.5. Global Migration of Health Workers

4.6. Data to support decision-making

5. THE IMPACT OF NEW TECHNOLOGY: IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF THE HEALTH WORKFORCE

6. THE ROLE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONAL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORKFORCE

7. COHESION POLICY

8. CONSULTATION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 *      *      *     *

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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[EQ] World report on child injury prevention

World report on child injury prevention

 

World Health Organization 2008 - Joint WHO / UNICEF Report

 

Available online as PDF file [232p.] at: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2008/9789241563574_eng.pdf

 

“…..Every day more than 2000 children and teenagers die from an injury which could have been prevented. This joint WHO / UNICEF report is a plea to keep kids safe by promoting evidence-based injury prevention interventions and sustained investment by all sectors. The report presents the current knowledge about the five most important causes of unintentional injury – road traffic injuries, drowning, burns, falls and poisoning – and makes seven recommendations for action…”

 

Edited by Margie Peden, Kayode Oyegbite, Joan Ozanne-Smith, Adnan A Hyder, Christine Branche, AKM Fazlur Rahman, Frederick Rivara and Kidist  Bartolomeos

 

Content

Introduction

Chapter 1. Child injuries in context

Chapter 2. Road traffic injuries

Chapter 3. Drowning

Chapter 4. Burns

Chapter 5. Falls

Chapter 6. Poisonings

Chapter 7. Conclusions and Recommendations

Statistical Annex

 

 

 

 *      *      *     *

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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Equity List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

 

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.