Advocating For Health & Hygiene As A Fundamental Human Right

It’s International Human Rights Day on 10th December. We can see people sharing human rights quotes and Human Rights Day celebration pictures on social media, but is this enough?  

We need to learn more about it, and this year I learned about it a few weeks before the day arrived, giving me not only an overview of Human Rights Day history but also detailed information on where the world stands on health as a human right.  

One of my friends participated in an online contest based on Human Rights Day, and she got an assignment named health as a human right essay. (We all have such friends who always seek help 😅) She asked me for help, and I started researching to help her write the best right to health essay for the contest.   

Significance Of Human Rights Day

We have observed Human Rights Day every year on the 10th of December since 1948. UNESCO was the first organization to declare this day as International Human Rights Day and to promote it around the world. According to the United Nations, everyone has the right to life, liberty, freedom of expression, education, and work, as well as the freedom from slavery. 

What do International Laws say?  

Initially, I was looking for her right to health care essay assignment, but as I learned more about the subject, I stopped looking for right to health pdf files and began looking for information on the right to health under international law. 

I thought of giving her some health and human rights pdf files and getting rid of this so-called “help a friend task” 🤣; now, I wanted to know more. The following is some useful information I discovered. 

UN  

United Nations Human Rights has a factsheet on human rights; factsheet no.31 defines health as a human right. UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes a right to health article. In 1966, the UN held the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which also reserves health as a human right.  

WHO  

After the UN human rights, I learned about the health rights in the World Health Organization (WHO) Constitution; how it reserves the health rights for humans. The World Health Organization’s constitution states clearly that health is one of the humans’ fundamental rights. 

What Indian Laws Say?  

After researching my friend’s “healthcare is a human rights essay,” I learned what Indian laws say about health rights.   

➢Constitution Of India  

The first question that came to my mind was, is there any right to health article in the Constitution of India? We know that our Constitution doesn’t directly consider the right to health as a fundamental right, but some provisions provide the constitutional right to health to citizens. Looking into Chapter IV of the Indian Constitution, I learned about The Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP), which reserves the health rights for Indian citizens.   

➢Supreme Court of India  

Supreme Court of India, in many cases, mentioned Article 21 protecting the right to life and stated that health is a crucial part of it.  

Importance Of Health Equality  

I don’t think anyone needs an explanation on the importance of health equality. We both were writing a section in the essay in which we elaborated on how an individual can help the underprivileged live a healthy lifestyle. In the assignment, my friend expressed her thoughts on the following points. 

➢Contributing In UN & WHO Campaigns  

UN and WHO are leading some good campaigns to raise voices for health equality. Both of these authorities have already declared the right to health as a human right. As an individual, we can participate in such campaigns.   

➢Starting From the Building-block  

What is the building block for a healthy lifestyle? The essential aspects are access to clean water and sanitation, a hygienic environment, and personal hygiene. Good hygiene practices can protect anyone from infectious diseases.  

Finally, after completing the essay, we decided to contribute to this worldwide movement. My friend planned to aware students of proper hygiene practices in order to promote a healthy lifestyle. I suggested giving natural sanitizers, masks, and other hygiene items as gifts to students.  

I hope that each one of us will make an effort to raise our voice for health equality. Also, don’t forget to share your efforts with us in comments below; others will be inspired by it!  

Pankaj Rai 

References:  

1.  UN’s Right to Health Fact Sheet – https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Factsheet31.pdf 

2. UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) – https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights  

3. UN’s International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) – https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx  

4. WHO’s Constitution – https://www.who.int/governance/eb/who_constitution_en.pdf  

5. Constitution Of India – (Article 21 Protection of Life and Chapter IV stating Directive Principles of State Policy) – https://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/COI.pdf