Globalization, Human Rights, and the Social Determinants of Health
Creator
Chapman, Audrey R.
Bibliographic Citation
Bioethics 2009 February; 23(2): 97-111
Abstract
Globalization, a process characterized by the growing interdependence of the world's people, impacts health systems and the social determinants of health in ways that are detrimental to health equity. In a world in which there are few countervailing normative and policy approaches to the dominant neoliberal regime underpinning globalization, the human rights paradigm constitutes a widely shared foundation for challenging globalization's effects. The substantive rights enumerated in human rights instruments include the right to the highest attainable level of physical and mental health and others that are relevant to the determinants of health. The rights stipulated in these documents impose extensive legal obligations on states that have ratified these documents and confer health entitlements on their residents. Human rights norms have also inspired civil society efforts to improve access to essential medicines and medical services, particularly for HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless, many factors reduce the potential counterweight human rights might exert, including and specifically the nature of the human rights approach, weak political commitments to promoting and protecting health rights on the part of some states and their lack of institutional and economic resources to do so. Global economic markets and the relative power of global economic institutions are also shrinking national policy space. This article reviews the potential contributions and limitations of human rights to achieving greater equity in shaping the social determinants of health.
Date
2009-02Collections
Metadata
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The Social Determinants of Health, Health Equity, and Human Rights
Chapman, Audrey R (2010-12-15)This article explores the benefits of a rights-based approach to health according greater attention to the social determinants of health, health equity, and the power structure. It uses the report issued by the World Health ...