How
can Nigerians enjoy good health in 2016? It is by adopting the World
Health Organisation (WHO) template, report OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA and
WALE ADEPOJU.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is the global policeman for
health matters. It has a template for member-countries in healthcare
delivery.
According to the WHO, the right to the highest attainable standard of
health requires a set of social criteria that are conducive to the
health of all people.
In addition, the availability of health services, safe working
conditions, adequate housing and nutritious foods is non-negotiable.
This is because achieving the right to health is closely related to that
of other human rights- the right to food, housing, work, education,
non-discrimination, access to information, and participation.
Nigerians do not enjoy optimum healthcare. Some do not even have access to.
To WHO, the right to health includes both freedoms and entitlements:
Freedoms include the right to control one’s health
and body (e.g. sexual and reproductive rights) and to be free from
interference (e.g. freedom from torture and from non-consensual medical
treatment and experimentation).
Entitlements include the right to a system of health
protection that gives everyone an equal opportunity to enjoy the
highest attainable level of health.
Health policies and programmes have the ability to either promote or
violate human rights, including the right to health, depending on the
way they are designed or implemented. Taking steps to respect and
protect human rights upholds the health sector’s responsibility to
address everyone’s health.
Disadvantaged populations and the right to health
According to WHO, vulnerable and marginalised groups in societies are
often less likely to enjoy the right to health. Three of the world’s
most fatal communicable diseases – malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis –
disproportionately affect the world’s poorest populations, placing a
tremendous burden on the economies of developing countries. Conversely
the burden of non-communicable disease – most often perceived as
affecting high-income countries is now increasing disproportionately
among lower income countries and populations.
Within countries, some populations, such as indigenous communities
are exposed to greater rates of ill-health and face significant
obstacles to accessing quality and affordable healthcare. This
population has substantially higher mortality and morbidity rates, due
to non communicable diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular and chronic
respiratory diseases, than the general public. People who are
particularly vulnerable to HIV infection, including young women, men who
have sex with men, and injecting drug users, are often characterised by
social and economic disadvantage and discrimination. These vulnerable
populations may be the subject of laws and policies that further
compound this marginalisation and make it harder to access prevention
and care services. Nigeria can do well by looking into this.
Violations of human rights
in the health sphere
Violations or lack of attention to human rights can have serious
health consequences. Overt or implicit discrimination in the delivery of
health services violates fundamental human rights.Many people with
mental disorders are kept in mental institutions against their will,
despite having the capacity to make decisions regarding their future. On
the other hand, when there are shortages of hospital beds, it is often
members of this population that are discharged prematurely, which can
lead to high readmission rates and sometimes even death, and also
constitutes a violation of their right to receive treatment.
Similarly, women are frequently denied access to sexual and
reproductive healthcare and services in developing and developed
countries. This is a human rights violation that is deeply engrained in
societal values about women’s sexuality. In addition to denial of care,
women in certain societies are sometimes forced into procedures, such as
sterilisation, abortions or virginity examinations.
Human rights-based approaches
A human rights-based approach to health provides strategies and
solutions to address and rectify inequalities, discriminatory practices
and unjust power relations, which are often at the heart of inequitable
health outcomes.
The goal of a human rights-based approach is that all health
policies, strategies and programmes are designed with the objective of
progressively improving the enjoyment of all people to the right to
health. Interventions to reach this objective adhere to rigorous
principles and standards, including:
Non-discrimination: The principle of
non-discrimination seeks to guarantee that human rights are exercised
without discrimination of any kind based on race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
property, birth or other status such as disability, age, marital and
family status, sexual orientation and gender identity, health status,
place of residence, economic and social situation’
.
Availability: A sufficient quantity of functioning public health and healthcare facilities, goods and services, as well as programmes.
Accessibility: Health facilities, goods and services
accessible to everyone. Accessibility has four overlapping dimensions:
Non-discrimination; physical accessibility; economical accessibility
(affordability); and information accessibility.
Acceptability: All health facilities, goods and
services must be respectful of medical ethics and culturally appropriate
as well as sensitive to gender and life-cycle requirements.
Quality: Health facilities, goods and services must be scientifically and medically appropriate and of good quality.
Accountability: States and other duty-bearers are answerable for the observance of human rights.
Universality: Human rights are universal and inalienable. All people everywhere in the world are entitled to them.
Policies and programmes must be designed to be responsive to the
needs of the population as a result of established accountability. A
human rights based-approach identifies relationships in order to empower
people to claim their rights and encourage policy makers and service
providers to meet their obligations in creating more responsive health
systems.
Federal and state ministries of health expected response
WHO has made a commitment to mainstream human rights into healthcare
programmes and policies on both national and regional levels, by looking
at underlying determinants of health as part of a comprehensive
approach to health and human rights. In addition, WHO has been actively
strengthening its role in providing technical, intellectual and
political leadership on the right to health including the following,
which Federal and state ministries of health can adapt:
- Strengthening the capacity of WHO and its Member-states to integrate a human rights-based approach to health;
- Advancing the right to health in international law and international development processes; and
- Advocating health-related human rights, including the right to health.
