Week 10
a
Module: Health Inequalities and the Social Determinants of Health
Topic 10: Human Rights and Theories of Justice/Equality
Lectures: Human Rights and Equity
This lecture will introduce students to a history of human rights, and the recent evolution of the human right to health. It will describe the existing legal and policy architecture relating to the human rights and the right to health, and discuss their practical implications and applications. Students will also be introduced to criticisms of the ‘right to health’ concept; as well as the ambiguous relationship between ‘rights’ and ‘equity’. The lecture will also introduce students to the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Health.
Compulsory Readings
- Gruskin S, Mills EJ and Tarantola D, 2008. History, principles, and practice of health and human rights. Lancet 2007; 370: 449–55 (read it here)
- José Carlos Escudero. What is Said, What is Silenced, What is Obscured: The Report of the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health Social Medicine; Volume 4, - 183 - Number 3, September 2009 (read it here)
- Anne-Emanuelle Birn. Making it Politic(al): Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity through Action on the Social Determinants of Health Social Medicine Volume 4, - Number 3, September 2009. (read it here)
- The Economist, 2008. Global health: The price of being well (read it here)
- Forde I and Raine R, 2009. Placing the individual within a social determinants approach to health inequity. Lancet 2008; 372: 1694–96 (read it here)
Additional Readings
- WHO Constitution. http://apps.who.int/gb/bd/PDF/bd47/EN/constitution-en.pdf
- UDHR. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf
- ICESCR. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/pdf/cescr.pdf
- Jonathan Wolff, 2012. The Human Right to Health. London: WW Norton.
- Asher J, 2004.The Right to Health: A Resource Manual for NGOs London: Commonwealth Medical Trust http://www.ifhhro.org/images/stories/ifhhro/Right_to_Health/3_2_5_rt_health_manual.pdf
- Backman G, Hunt P, Khosla R et al, 2008. Health systems and the right to health: an assessment of 194 countries. Lancet 2008; 372: 2047–85 (read it here)
- Jonathan Wolff. An Introduction to Political Philosophy. Chapters 4-5. Oxford University Press. (Check library availability)
- Global Health Watch 2. Chapter B3: Access to health care for migrants and asylum-seekers
Seminar
In the seminar, we will use the paper by Willen to discuss:
- Different conceptions of the application of the human right to health, and in particular the tension between humanitarian and political/legal approaches
- The concepts of illegality and biolegitimacy, as it relates to the particular health rights of ‘illegal migrants’
- The methods, strengths and limitations of ethnographic research
Students will also be asked to conduct their own research on the current state of ‘rights’ and ‘entitlements’ of ‘undocumented migrants’, ‘documented migrants’ and ‘asylum seekers’; and to present their findings for discussion in the seminar.
Lecture Notes and Powerpoints
