Health Systems and the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12440370 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul Hunt (University of Essex, corresponding author), Gunilla Backman |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 81-81 |
| Publication date | 2008-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Health and Human Rights (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1079-0969 • E-ISSN: 2150-4113 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/20460089 |
| PMID | 20845831 |
| OpenAlex | W1866869144 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 34 |
The right to the highest attainable standard of health should be the cornerstone of any consideration of health and human rights. The content of this fundamental human right is now sufficiently well understood to be applied in an operational, systematic, and sustained manner. At the heart of the right to the highest attainable standard of health lies an effective and integrated health system, encompassing medical care and the underlying determinants of health, which is responsive to national and local priorities and accessible to all. Yet in many countries, health systems are failing and collapsing, giving rise to an extremely grave human rights problem. This article outlines the general approach of the right to the highest attainable standard of health toward the strengthening of health systems. It identifies some of the key right-to-health features of a health system, such as transparency, participation, equity and equality, a comprehensive national health plan, a minimum "basket" of health-related services and facilities, disaggregated data, monitoring and accountability, and so on. This general approach has to be consistently and systematically applied across the "building blocks" that together constitute a functioning health system. By way of illustration, the article applies this approach to one of these "building blocks:" leadership, governance, and stewardship. There are numerous health movements and approaches, including health equity, primary health care, social determinants, and so on. All are very important. But it is misconceived to regard human rights as yet another approach with the same status as the others. Like ethics, the right to the highest attainable standard of health is not optional--and, like ethics, it recurs throughout all other approaches. The right to the highest attainable standard of health is the only perspective that is both underpinned by universally recognized moral values and reinforced by legal obligations
Accountability · Business · Corporate governance · Equity (law · Health care · Health equity · HRHIS · Human rights · International health · Law and economics · Political science · Public relations · Right to health · Social determinants of health · Sociology · Stewardship (theology · Transparency (behavior · Human Rights and Development · Law · Public Health in Brazil · Health Policy
Taxing Taste and Gender
Promoting community participation in priority setting in district health systems
Under the (legal) radar screen
Healthy people and healthy profits? Elaborating a conceptual framework for governing the commercial determinants of non-communicable diseases and identifying options for reducing risk exposure
Undocumented immigrants’ and immigrant women’s access to healthcare services in the Basque Country (Spain)
When to start antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings
Considerations for a Human Rights Impact Assessment of a Population Wide Treatment for HIV Prevention Intervention
Neocolonial epidemiology
Discriminação racial e saúde
Striking a Balance between Protecting Trademarks and Public Health Interests in Combating Trade in Counterfeit Medicines
Core Concepts of Human Rights and Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups in the Disability and Rehabilitation Policies of Malawi, Namibia, Sudan, and South Africa
The Responsibility to Protect
The National Health Insurance policy
Using human rights-based approaches to conceptualise lesbian and bisexual women’s health inequalities
Human rights in health systems frameworks
Deportation of non-citizen military veterans
Understanding the emergence of ‘Communitization’ under India’s National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
Framing global health
How Do Countries’ Health Information Systems Perform in Assessing Asylum Seekers’ Health Situation? Developing a Health Information Assessment Tool on Asylum Seekers (Hiatus) and Piloting It in Two European Countries
The Cycle to Respectful Care
Vulnerable populations and the right to health
Public and Patient Involvement and the Right to Health
Rights-Based Training Enhancing Engagement of Health Providers With Communities, Cape Metropole, South Africa
Giving Effect to Children's Right to Health in Colombia? Analysing the Implementation of Court Decisions Ordering Health System Reform
Using a Rights-Based Approach to Avoid Harming Health Systems
Exploring Human Rights-Based Activism as a Social Determinant of Health
Vermont and Healthcare Reform Organizing
Social solidarity and the right to health
How people-centred health systems can reach the grassroots
Que cache le consensus des acteurs de la santé mondiale au sujet de la couverture sanitaire universelle? Une analyse fondée sur l’approche par les droits
Disease detection, epidemiology and outbreak response
Globalisation and health inequalities
Post-conflict health reconstruction
Do "Illegal" Im/migrants Have a Right to Health? Engaging Ethical Theory as Social Practice at a Tel Aviv Open Clinic
| Unique citing works | 34 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,13 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2026 (17) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 33 |