Health and human rights: The challenge for developing countries

Bruno Dujardin

Social Science & Medicine, 1994, vol. 39, issue 9, 1261-1274

Abstract: What are the priorities when it comes to health and human rights? This article is subtended by the following principle, i.e. issues of health and human rights must be considered from different angles in industrial countries and developing countries. Indeed, the subjects that preoccupy the countries of 'the North,' such as the ethics of mandatory screening, assisted insemination, and euthanasia, to name a few, are of only marginal importance in the 'South.' The exception is the very specific case of health services' involvement in the organization of torture, which is common to North and South. Geographical, economic and cultural barriers have been lowered or removed in most industrialized countries and using effective, good-quality services has become a right for the overwhelming majority of their citizens. Priority in the developing countries continues to be given above all to improving the quality and effectiveness of health services and making them accessible to the greatest number of people. This article starts with a brief historical overview of the development of the 'health and human rights' concept. The body of the paper will then be devoted to an analysis of constraints and identification of the solutions that will allow health to become a real 'human right' for the people of developing countries. Health as a human right is the challenge for developing countries.

Keywords: health; human; rights; developing; countries; medical; ethics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994
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