Health : The Elementary Human Right Essay

“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, and housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control” (United Nations Declaration of Human Rights).The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights immediately brought about a change to the world as a whole. Not only did they decide it inhuman to keep health care from citizens, but they set out other standards of

But over the past few decades, the definititon and concept of health has evolved to encompass more elements than just the physical well-being of a person. This is partly attributed to various researches and studies that have taken place around the world in the last 60 years. Already in 1948, the World Health Organization declared that health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not

Healthcare policy is dynamic and ever changing, especially in our society today with the many changes in government control, insurance company influence, and actual delivery of healthcare services. In order to corral our healthcare system and ensure that there is quality control amongst all populations, health policies must be put in place. Health policy is defined as many things due to its dynamic nature but the assigned text expresses a definition that encompasses all aspects of what health policy is for us today, “Authoritative decisions made in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches of government that are intended to direct or influence that actions, behaviors, or decisions of others”(Longest, p. 5, (2010)). Among the many reasons why health policy is pertinent to our society an aspect of health policy that I feel is most important is in regards to public health practices. Health policy is the reason why populations that whom otherwise would not receive the absolute needed healthcare, actually get to receive healthcare. The financial aspect of healthcare is quite steep and more often than not healthcare services are not sought out by populations because they cannot afford to do so. With health policy the policymakers allow for the proper and equal disbursement of goods and services to ensure that everyone is remaining healthy no matter what

In a medically savaged developing country when there is a sudden influx of scarce resources, whom of the inflicted and in need shall be the beneficiary? The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care....” (Skolnik, 2016). Poverty stricken countries caught up in a labyrinth of illness are unable to deliver the correct care their inhabitants necessitate. Richard Skolnik in “Global Health 101” identifies four basic ethical principles underlying most scarce resource allocation schemes as: 1) health maximization; 2) equality; 3) priority to the worst off and 4) personal responsibility.

Health and social justice have continued to be a major problem that affects the way people live and chance of illness, and consequent risk of premature death. The recent report from the World Health Organization shows that health disparities have continued to persist within and among countries and different regions of the world. For example, infectious diseases and undernutrition are common in poor and developing countries (WHO, 2018). The gap is even much worse between the rural and urban dwellers because of the economic differences and availability of healthcare services. Although some of the developed nations have attempted

Health equity is closely related to the right to health, which is part of the Convention on Economic Social and Cultural Rights – one of the main human rights treaties, and one to which Canada has long been a signatory. While the implementation of economic social and cultural human rights has also met many barriers, the framework of international human rights still offers a useful perspective

It is important to understand the policy-making process especially for advocates who plan what type of input is needed in order to have an impact on the final policy. There are a few interesting factors between health policy and social policy. The Social policy deals more with the distribution and maintenance of economic solvency, as well as the provision of services such as housing and transport to specific target groups such as the poor. While in health policy the focus is more on in meeting the health needs of a specific population. In the same manner health insurance policies perhaps were

The human rights lens provide a means to examine systemic issues and state responsibility. Human rights principles that apply to patient care include the right to the highest attainable of physical and mental health, which covers both positive and negative guarantee in respect of health, as well as civil political rights ranging from the patient's right to be free from torture and inhumane treatment to liberty and security of person. They also focus attention on the right to be free from discrimination in the allocation of resources to health services and in their availability and accessibility. Furthermore, they protect the health and wellbeing of both mother and children.

There is a strong connection between health policy, health determinants, and health. The main purpose of health policy is to support people on their quest to health. Health policies affect health through health determinants. Health determinants, then directly affect health. Health is defined as the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease (WHO, 1948).

Ann B. Hamric et al ( 2014) described policy as the “authoritative decisions pertaining to health or health care, made in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches of government, that are intended to direct or influence the actions, behavior or decisions of citizens” (p.580). Health care policy should be able to increase access to health care, improve quality of care, and most important shows transparence on cost effectiveness (2014).

In public health, as in many fields there are a set of conundrums that practitioners, leaders and law makers have to address in order to provide the most appropriate service to their populations. One of these conundrums is the battle between what is good for the community vs. what is good for the individual. This topic will be broken up to the community vs. the individual, and discussed based on research done by Kass et al, and Oriola, and will be concluded by presenting possible solutions.

The theoretical framework that is used in this paper is Collins’s framework, which he describes as a simple tool for policy making (Collins 2005). Collins’s framework is a framework specifically designed for health policies and is an adapted version of Bardach’s policy framework. Bardach proposes eight steps to create a policy; he calls this the ‘eight-fold-path’.

Health policies are created within the dynamic public policy-making system that takes place at the federal, state, and local levels of government. However, health policy can also be created at the private sector, which are governed via the authoritative decisions that influence the actions behaviors, or the choices of others. The general public policy is a cyclical process, happening inside a system

The ‘Declaration of Alma-Ata’ delivered the foundations of PHC by identifying a lack of, and requirement for equality in health and health care between different communities and countries (Talbot & Verrinda, 2013). The Alma-Ata defines PHC as being a responsibility of governments to enable equal access to health care despite the varying impacts of socioeconomic, sociocultural or environmental determinants, and should incorporate, at a minimum; education to patients, preventative care, curative care, rehabilitation, adequate food and water supply, access to medication, prevention of disease spread through immunisation, adequate sanitation, and support through affordable access to care and increased awareness (Talbot & Verrinda, 2013). The ‘Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion’ further builds on providing PHC, as outlined by the Alma-Ata, by taking a HP approach (Talbot & Verrinda, 2013; WHO, 2017). The charter defines HP as a process that encourages individuals to take charge over improving their health by providing a framework of resources aimed to educate, enable, support and provide (Talbot & Verrinda, 2013; Keleher & MacDougall, 2015; WHO, 2017). PHC and HP are largely focused around the social determinants of health and aim to reduce the inequalities in health that may potentially be caused by the impact of these determinants.

Thereby, the ability of universal health coverage, is highly recognised when addressing health inequities, social determinants of health and human rights and it is heralded as “ the third global health transition” ( Rodin and deFerranti, 2012). Universal health Coverage is reflected in the UN sustainable development goals and is strongly encouraged due to its ability to provide an umbrella goal by including both, the millennium development goals (MDGS) as well as