Human Right to Health caPACITY BUILDING COLLABORATIVE

Rising inequity in U.S. society and the failure to recognize economic and social rights play a significant role in the domestic health care crisis.  Our fragmented health care financing system is rife with problems that lead to a wide range of human right to health abuses.  The most visible is the 47 million people with no form of health insurance, the most distressing is the number of preventable deaths, estimated by some to reach 101,000 people a year, simply due to shortcomings in the way health care is organized in the United States. 

This crisis persists despite available resources to protect the right to health, and despite record levels of health care spending in the United States. Because social determinants, such as race, class and environment, strongly influence who becomes ill and who receives access to quality care, our health care crisis disproportionately affects under-resourced communities, such as immigrants, the working class and people of color.  However, lack of access to health care, health related debt and poor preventative care are prevalent across races and ethnic groups, and increasingly impact the middle class. Overall, the health care crisis reflects unethical and unchecked profit interests that devalue public health, human dignity and equality. This presents a compelling opportunity for bringing a human rights perspective to domestic health policy.      

As part of a Human Right to Health Capacity Building Collaborative, NESRI is working with NHeLP and other health advocates to develop analysis, provide information for public education, and cultivate opportunities for strategic collaboration to promote a health care system that respects and protects human rights.  

Other members of the Collaborative include the FXB Center on Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health, Ipas, the Opportunity Agenda, and the Human Rights Implementation Project. Members are coordinating to develop policy analysis and training tools to support local organizations in their efforts to reform health care at the state level.  The collaborative is developing tools and training materials geared to support local organizations seeking to reform health care in their state. We work with Creative Counsel, through their 1000 Voices Archive project (www.1000VoicesArchive.org), to create multi-media tools for human rights advocacy.

The Program’s first state-based partnership is in Montana: we’ve been invited by the Montana Human Rights Network to support their campaign for health care reform from a human rights perspective. Reform efforts underway in Montana include public program expansions and local initiatives for universal health care. The Program is also supporting a “Healthcare is a Human Right” campaign in Vermont, led by the Vermont Workers’ Center.

For state-based advocates and organizations interested in learning more about a human rights approach to health care reform, please contact Anja Rudiger, the Program Director.

Montana County moves toward universal healthcare based on human rights
In December 2008, the Health Board of Lewis & Clark County adopted a resolution that recognizes the human right to health and healthcare. This resolution also sets up a task force to recommend how to best implement universal healthcare in Lewis & Clark County. Read the resolution here >>>

The Helena Independent Record (12/12/08) quoted key stakeholders:
“The board’s effort appears to be the only one of its type in the state, and possibly the region, said Alan Peura, a Helena city commissioner and board member who helped spearhead the project. “Starting with health care as a human right, we thought maybe we can get to places that we never got to before,” he said Thursday. “We said, ‘Let’s see what we can do to change the debate, and maybe end up with some solutions that we don’t even know exist at this point.’ ”  […] State Sen. Christine Kaufmann, D-Helena, the executive director of the Montana Human Rights Network, also said it could become a pilot project with federal funding, to offer universal health care in a rural county. “Our goal is that everyone in Lewis and Clark County has access to health care,” she said.
Read the newspaper coverage here >>> and here >>>

Other press coverage from Montana
In October 2008 Kim Abbott, of the Montana Human Rights Network, wrote on the human right to health care in an op-ed appearing in the Missoulian, MT >>>

In February 2008 NESRI Health Program Director Anja Rudiger was interviewed in Montana about access to health care as a human right >>>

New Right to Health Care Bill Introduced in Montana Senate
On February 16 the Montana State Senate held a hearing on establishing the right to health care in the state. The constitutional amendment was introduced by Senator Christine Kaufmann.  To see the bill >>> To listen to the hearing (the right to health care hearing starts at 0:20:55 seconds and ends at 1:09:40 seconds) >>>

A Human Rights Assessment of Health Reform Proposals in Washington State
In January 2009 Northwest Health Law Advocates (NoHLA) released a report, "Washington State's Health Reform Proposals: A Human Rights Assessment."  The report uses a human rights framework to evaluate the five proposals that the Washington Legislature is considering as models for state-based health reform. Read the report and download the toolkit here >>>

Human Right to Health Caucus
The Human Right to Health Caucus, affiliated with the US Human Rights Network, supports the use of a human rights approach by health advocates, activists, and policymakers in the United States. The Caucus provides a forum for developing and coordinating strategies to secure the health rights of all people in United States. It acts as a vehicle for the exchange and debate of information and analysis on the human right to health.  The Caucus actively encourages individuals and organizations to apply a human rights approach in their work on health issues, and to share examples of successful practices using the right to health and health care.

The Caucus has a listserv:

To subscribe, email Human_right_to_health[at]lists.mayfirst.org