Advancing health equity in the global marketplace: How human rights can help

Abstract

Citation for published item:hre kerD ed nd gh pm nD eudrey nd v ont¡ eD on ld nd he ogliD o erto @PHIHA 9edv n ing he lth equity in the glo l m rketpl e X how hum n rights n helpF9D o i l s ien e medi ineFD UI @VAF ppF ISPHEISPTF Further information on publisher's website: httpXGGdxFdoiForgGIHFIHITGjFso s imedFPHIHFHTFHRP Publisher's copyright statement: NOTICE: this is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Social science medicine. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be re ected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A de nitive version was subsequently published in Social science medicine, 71, 8, 2010, 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.06.042 Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractThe Commission on Social Determinants of Health ascribed health disparities within and between countries to "a toxic combination of poor social policies and programmes, unfair economic arrangements, and bad politics." This article analyzes the relevance of the international human rights framework (IHRF) to the Commission's goal of reducing health disparities with reference to both social scientific and legal scholarship. We begin with an overview of the IHRF, demonstrating its potential as a challenge to the normative foundations of the emerging global economic order. We then survey the research literature on mechanisms to ensure accountability for realization of health-related rights, emphasizing the potential effectiveness of making human rights enforceable through the courts, and the special need for mechanisms to hold countries and international institutions accountable for obligations related to the human right to health. We conclude by identifying three key directions for further research, policy and advocacy: comparative human rights litigation, specifically the willingness of courts to address broad policy and budgetary issues; the conditions under which governments legislate or constitutionalize economic and social rights; and how rich, powerful countries affect economic and social rights outside their borders.3

Human rights in health systems frameworks: What is there, what is missing and why does it matter?

“…Any person or group victim of a violation of the right to health should have access to effective judicial or other appropriate remedies at all levels. All victims of such violations should be entitled to adequate reparation, which may take the form of restitution, compensation, satisfaction or guarantees of non-repetition (Schrecker et al 2010). …”

Social Quality and Health: Examining Individual and Neighbourhood Contextual Effects Using a Multilevel Modelling Approach

“…The ‘rights’ aspect of social inclusion also showed strong effects, especially the civil rights indicators, which apart from unemployment had the strongest associations with self-rated health than any of the indicators in this analysis, which applied to both the experience and perception of these rights. The issue of rights in particular does not seem to have been examined much as a SDH before, despite its importance to public health equity being noted (Schrecker et al 2010), and calls being made to establish suitable indicators (Gruskin and Ferguson 2009). Discrimination in particular, however, a key component of civil rights in the social quality framework, has previously been shown to be related to health, with the suggestion that depressive symptoms mediate the relationship (Todorova et al 2010).…”

From bulldozing to housing rights: reducing vulnerability and improving health in African slums

“…Generically, the IHRF has been advanced as an approach to improving health equity that responds to challenges arising from economic globalization (25)(26)(27)(28). The IHRF comprises a series of treaties under international law, the and where the 'necessity therefore is such as to afford justification for the causing of hardship that may result to any person having an interest in or right over property', in which case provision must be made 'by a law applicable to that taking of possession or acquisition for the prompt payment of full compensation'.…”