The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a document created as a result of the atrocities experienced during World War II. Article 25 addresses the right to an adequate standard of living. This includes the basic rights to food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. Medical care makes an obvious connection to health. It is important for everyone to have rights to medical care because, from the public health perspective, if a person or group of persons do not have access to health care (most likely for financial reasons) it could lead to spreading of unidentified diseases and increased rates of mortality. Health care, however, has been a very controversial issue lately. Besides medical care, food and shelter can also relate to health. Over spring break I experienced first-hand the relationship between shelter and health. In the poor, rural areas of Belize, many communities live in homes can could be detrimental to their health. For example, most families I visited had outdoor bathrooms without seat covers. This is a major health issue because these bathrooms can lead to parasites and other diseases with negative health effects; what's worse is that most families are not aware of these dangers until it's too late.
The second article we read discussed how maternal mortality was handled as a human rights issue. The specific case surrounding the issue was that of Brazilian Alyne da Silva Pimentel -- known as Alye da Silva Pimentel v. Brazil -- a woman who died of pregnancy-related causes that may have been prevented with proper emergency obstetric care. Her mother took her case to the CEDAW committee, which established the human rights obligation to guarantee women of all racial and economic backgrounds equal access to appropriate maternal health services.
I think motherhood is
specifically mentioned in the UDHR and addressed by the CEDAW because unlike
men, mothers and mothers-to-be are responsible for another human being who also
deserves rights. Article 3 of the UDHR states
that "everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person, so proper health care to pregnant women is
imperative in order to enforce this right. Maternal mortality also effects the child’s life, if it
lives through childbirth, because infants need their mothers.
The poverty experienced by those in undeveloped countries is truly horrific and needs to be more actively addressed by public health officials. In these nations, sanitation systems, medical care, and food availability are all subpar to say the least and without providing these people with better provisions, mortality rates will rise and these citizens will continue to lead very difficult lives.
ReplyDeleteThese communities often face many other problems asides from lack of public services and medical care, like unemployment, absence of an educational system, and violence and citizen insecurity, which also affect their living standards and health. In my opinion, raising the quality of life in these underdeveloped communities is a great challenge that goes beyond intervention and aid, because these countries tend to have unstable and corrupt institutions that must undergo serious reforms in order to improve opportunities and encourage economical, societal and cultural development to ultimately solve the problem of poverty.
ReplyDeleteWhen human rights are not upheld, such as access to food, water, sanitation, the health of the population whose rights are being violated suffers. This can lead to spread of disease, early mortality etc, which of course are important outcomes for public health. Poor living standards also affect access to food, medical care, sanitation and social services, which can again result in unfavorable public health outcomes, so it makes sense to include living standards in the consideration of human rights. The case of Alyne de Silva Pimentel v. Brazil established that States have an obligation to guarantee all women non-discriminatory access to maternal health services and that they must regulate private institutions that the government outsources this care to. I agree with the UDHR that mothers are a special case because during pregnancy women are vulnerable, and they are often marginalized, so need special protection.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to determine how to best provide adequate standards of living to communities where the problems are multiple and stem from poverty, when resources are finite, and many of these people have no voice.