The achievement of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health for everyone is one of the most important demands of world’s population. The right to health is recognized by several international health and human rights laws and treaties. To bring this right from theory to practice, international laws should be implemented in national contexts. Every country has specific conditions regarding the current level of its population’s health and available resources. The challenge then is to learn how human rights standards are to be adopted in a particular national context. In this course, the participants will learn how to implement the standards of the right to health in healthcare facilities.

In recent years, the right to health has played a prominent role in international, regional and national human rights laws and policies. Medical care is an important component of the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living which is recognised by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). However, many years after the adoption of this Declaration, based on recent figures, approximately two billion people still do not have access to primary healthcare. Millions are suffering from illnesses that are either preventable or treatable with existing medicines. Moreover, due to a lack of access to primary healthcare, many children die or grow up stunted in the developing world. These facts indicate that the realization of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health has not been achieved in many areas of the world.

To fulfil the right to health, international laws should be implemented in national context. Every country has specific conditions regarding the current level of its population’s health and available resources. The challenge then is to learn how human rights standards are to be adopted in a particular national context. Currently, while people are demanding that their rights be respected, protected and fulfilled, governments are struggling to strike a balance between their human rights obligations and available resources. Today more than ever before, the question of how the right to health can be fully realized is receiving attention. Advancements in the realization of the right to health depend upon both national provisions and how international standards are applied in a particular national context. Human rights treaties constitute standards that should be applied within the domestic systems of countries and a set of norms for the conduct of both states and non-state actors with respect to the rights. States should adopt national health strategies and plans of action for the realization of the right to health and should establish national mechanisms to monitor their progress. Realization of the right to health should be progressive; that is, factors affecting negatively the fulfilment of the obligations should be identified, and people’s enjoyment of their rights should be improved.  In this course, the participants will learn how to implement the standards of the right to health in healthcare facilities.