Constitutional rights to health, public health and medical care
The status of health protections in 191 countries
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15541196 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jody Heymann (0000-0003-0008-4198, University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author), Adèle Cassola (0000-0002-5406-8604, McGill University Health Centre), Amy Raub (0000-0002-5207-0807, University of California, Los Angeles), Lipi Mishra (McGill University Health Centre) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 639-653 |
| Publication date | 2013-07-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Global Public Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1744-1692 • E-ISSN: 1744-1706 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17441692.2013.810765 |
| PMID | 23826994 |
| OpenAlex | W1997706627 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 18 |
| References cited | 5 |
United Nations (UN) member states have universally recognised the right to health in international agreements, but protection of this right at the national level remains incomplete. This article examines the level and scope of constitutional protection of specific rights to public health and medical care, as well as the broad right to health. We analysed health rights in the constitutions of 191 UN countries in 2007 and 2011. We examined how rights protections varied across the year of constitutional adoption; national income group and region; and for vulnerable groups within each country. A minority of the countries guaranteed the rights to public health (14%), medical care (38%) and overall health (36%) in their constitutions in 2011. Free medical care was constitutionally protected in 9% of the countries. Thirteen per cent of the constitutions guaranteed children's right to health or medical care, 6% did so for persons with disabilities and 5% for each of the elderly and the socio-economically disadvantaged. Valuable next steps include regular monitoring of the national protection of health rights recognised in international agreements, analyses of the impact of health rights on health outcomes and longitudinal multi-level studies to assess whether specific formulations of the rights have greater impact
Constitution · Constitutional right · Disadvantaged · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Health care · Human rights · International health · Political science · Public health · Right to health · Global Maternal and Child Health · Human Rights and Development · International Human Rights and Reproductive Law · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Health Policy
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| Unique citing works | 18 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2026 (13) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 18 |