Dear HIFA colleagues,
This month's WHO Bulletin has a paper on Analysing governments' progress on the right to health. Citation, extracts and comment below.
CITATION: Analysing governments' progress on the right to health
Alicia Ely Yamin et al.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11046153/?report=classic
Bull World Health Organ. 2024 May 1; 102(5): 307–313.
Published online 2024 Mar 14. doi: 10.2471/BLT.23.290184
'We identified 140 WHO Member States [out of 192] with a constitutionalized right to health. Our analysis suggests there are notable variations in the legal scope of protection for health, including breadth of entitlements and the possibility of enforcing these rights through the legal system. We also highlight the critical importance of constitutional acknowledgement, legislative measures, and judicial interpretations in shaping the legal entitlements to health-care services, affecting their accessibility and financial support.'
'The analysis offers insights for policy-makers to assess different approaches to health-related entitlements, with implications for health financing and the evaluation of Member States' strides towards universal access to comprehensive care. This analysis also illuminates how distinct formulations of the right to health have varied effects on reducing health disparities.'
COMMENTS (NPW):
1. It's interesting that 52 countries do not have a constitutionalised right to health.
2. One of the findings of the recent HIFA global survey for WHO was the high percentage of respondents who agreed or strongly agreed that governments should recognise their obligation to improve the availability and use of reliable healthcare information. This is recognised by the UN as a determinant of the right to health, for which governments have as much obligation as the right to health itself. The current paper does not even mention access to reliable healthcare information, which suggests that governments currently do not recognise this oobligation. Indeed it would be good to know if any government recognises such obligation.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org