Health and human rights

Overview

Human rights are an internationally agreed upon set of principles and norms adopted at international and regional levels. Many international instruments refer to the right to health or health-related rights.

Promoting and protecting health and respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights are inextricably linked:

Violations or lack of attention to human rights (e.g. harmful traditional practices, slavery, inhuman and degrading treatment, and violence against women) can have serious health consequences;

Health policies and programs can promote or violate human rights in their design or implementation (e.g. freedom from discrimination, rights to participation, privacy and information);

Vulnerability to ill health can be reduced by taking steps to respect, protect and fulfil human rights (e.g. freedom from discrimination on account of ethnicity, sex and social status and the rights to food and nutrition, water, education and adequate housing).

In light of the linkages between health and human rights, it is more and more important to increase awareness and to have an added systematic application of human rights to a range of public health challenges. In this context, the right to health is an important tool that can be used to tackle health inequalities.

Situation analysis

Mozambique has ratified several major international and regional human rights treaties that address the right to health and a number of rights related to conditions necessary for health. However, Mozambique is not yet party to the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights.

At national level, the Mozambican constitution (2004) refers to the protection and promotion of human rights, including the right to health. The rights-based approach is also reflected in other important strategic documents such as the Poverty Reduction Strategic Paper (PARPA II) and the National Declaration of Health Policy (Declaração Nacional de Política da Saúde).

Challenges

• Lack of adequate human rights network to develop specific projects (including weakness of civil society);
• Limited strategic position in some priority health programs such as tuberculosis, malaria, etc.
• Key documents not available in Portuguese.

Achievements

The WHO office in Mozambique is actively strengthening its role in providing technical, intellectual and political leadership in the field of health and human rights. Indeed, it has established strong links with partners at Ministry level, but also with the civil society to introduce the human rights based approach to health. At international level, WHO is also actively collaborating with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, and his team.

WHO office in Mozambique is working towards the dissemination of information on health and human rights as well as important related subjects, such as the effects of discrimination on the response to HIV, or the rights of people with disabilities.

Next steps

• Introduction of the notion of the right to health in the Health Sector Strategic Plan (PESS).
• Implementation of the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Health, who visited Mozambique in 2003.
• Collaboration with the Ministry of Justice for setting up the National Human Rights Commission and to tackle the issue of rights of HIV positive inmates.