Health and Human Rights最新文献

In this essay, I explore the link between energy access, especially electricity, and human rights, particularly the right to health in Nigeria. Despite its plentiful natural resources, including vast reserves of oil, gas, and sustainable bioenergy sources, Nigeria faces an energy crisis that constrains health care delivery, particularly in rural areas where health facilities lack reliable access to electricity. I analyze Nigeria's recently enacted Electricity Act, assessing its potential to address systemic energy challenges that hinder the realization of the right to health. I balance a doctrinal reading of the act with a rights-based analysis of its capacity to enhance equitable access to energy, recognizing electricity access as a social determinant of health. I further highlight the importance of policy and legal measures to alleviate Nigeria's energy crisis and improve health care access for millions disproportionately affected by the lack of clean and reliable energy. Crucially, the analysis also examines the governance and implementation gaps, such as regulatory coordination, that might prevent the act from ensuring energy is a tool to help fulfill the right to health.

This paper provides an overview of states' current obligations concerning key areas of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) under United Nations (UN) international human rights law. It emphasizes that SRHR are grounded in international treaties and acknowledged as fundamental human rights, and highlights the importance of their ongoing development. The analysis focuses on UN treaty body standards related to maternal health, contraceptive access, abortion, and sexuality education, while also identifying gaps in standards-particularly in areas such as menstrual health, assisted reproductive technologies, and self-care. Despite notable progress in the realization of SRHR, significant inequalities and rights violations persist, disproportionately affecting marginalized populations. The paper stresses the significance of these standards and advocates for their continuous evolution, emphasizing the need for greater consistency between human rights bodies and identifying areas where legal and policy development should be prioritized to ensure equitable and effective realization of SRHR for all.

In 2013, Argentina enacted Law 26862, guaranteeing access to assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) but it does not include preimplantation genetic testing (PGT). Judicial rulings have denied PGT coverage, citing legal protections for embryos and the absence of explicit regulatory approval. However, this paper argues that PGT should be included under Argentina's current ART framework, in alignment with human rights principles, scientific progress, and reproductive autonomy. Analyzing domestic legislation and the inter-American human rights system-particularly the case of Artavia Murillo v. Costa Rica-the paper demonstrates that restricting PGT disproportionately harms individuals with genetic risks, violating their rights to health, privacy, and family life. The judiciary's reliance on "life at conception" arguments is further undermined by Argentina's 2020 abortion law, which permits pregnancy termination. By comparing Argentina's approach to the UK's regulated PGT model, the paper advocates for the Ministry of Health to authorize PGT under strict criteria, ensuring equitable access while addressing ethical concerns. Recommendations include adopting evidence-based regulations to balance reproductive rights with embryo welfare, thereby advancing progressive health policies in line with international human rights standards.

Although there is a seductive neutrality to calls to end the "mental health crisis" and develop more effective psychotropics, these calls are grounded in a neoliberal sensibility. Such rhetoric deflects attention away from the lived realities of people's lives and from the human rights violations that are often the cause of mental ill-health. Moreover, the undue influence of both industry and organized psychiatry in the mental health field create a perfect storm in which mental health research, policy, and clinical practice are driven by the search for pharmaceutical magic bullets. This search is facilitated by medicalized tropes, academic-industry relationships, an anti-regulatory climate, and guild interests, to the detriment of public health considerations. Indeed, an overly medicalized response to emotional distress violates patients' human rights, including the rights to health and to informed consent. Using the conceptual and normative framework of institutional corruption, this paper identifies the various economies of influence that have paved the way for the fast-tracking of psychotropics with "novel" mechanisms of action. I discuss the marketing of postpartum distress (PPD) as a disorder of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the "first ever" pill to treat PPD, zuranolone, as a case illustration of medicalization. I conclude by offering solutions for reform that are embedded in a human rights framework.

The World Health Organization has set a target for 75% of member states to have national dementia plans by 2025. These plans should align with human rights standards, such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The aim of this study was to complete a review of global national dementia plans and their human rights content according to the convention's principles. A categorization matrix of preidentified human rights themes was produced prior to data collection and extensive inclusion criteria were adopted to ensure thorough assessment using deductive content analysis. Each dementia plan was reviewed by at least two independent assessors. Forty plans were included in the final analysis. We found that basic human rights were covered by the plans, with community inclusion acknowledged in 39 plans (97.5%). However, there was less coverage of non-coercive practices and the participation of people with dementia in the design and delivery of services or policies, with only 24 plans (60%) mentioning these aspects. This is the first global review of human rights content within national dementia plans. More must be done to ensure that all such plans align with human rights standards so that the human rights of persons with dementia are respected, protected, and promoted.