The enjoyment and exercise of all human rights affects the health of individuals. This is especially evident when considering the modern definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

 

World Health Organisation. Preamble to the WHO Constitution. (1946)

 

The Human Rights Pro Bono Law Project takes the position that health facilities and service should be accessible to everyone without discrimination. Accessibility has a number of dimensions, non-discrimination, physical accessibility, economic accessibility and information accessibility.

 

Spending on pharmaceuticals represents less than one fifth of total public and private health spending in most developed countries, but this grows to 15-30% in transitional economies and increases to 25-66% in developing countries. The expense of serious illness and drugs is a major cause of household poverty in developing nations. The main problems are lack of access to essential drugs, irrational use of drugs, and poor quality of drugs.

 

Less than one third of developing countries have fully functioning drug regulatory authorities this can result in the distribution of potentially lethal product. Essential drugs are very cost-effective and could potentially save millions of lives and as such represents a major human rights concern.

 

To this end, the idea that all people are entitled to have the physical needs of their bodies satisfied is at the heart of the human rights movement, specifically, the right to survive and to live free of reasonably preventable suffering. The Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) articulates this right to adequate health in Article 25:

 

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care…”

 

Throughout the world, in countries rich and poor, people have no access to basic physical and mental health care and to immunizations from infectious disease. Some people have no access because they lack the resources to buy it and the state does not provide it, others because there are no services available in their communities, and others because of discrimination or social stigma, such as their status as prisoners, detainees, refugees, immigrants, or members of a lower class or caste. Victims of displacement, torture, and war, as a result, receive insufficient help in coping with the physical and psychological impact of these traumas.

 

While no single project is able to address the growing need to provide access to medical care and related prescription drugs, the Human Rights Pro Bono Law Project has created an avenue intended advocates for human rights in assisting those without access to prescription drugs. Please follow the below link which will direct you to the part of this web site containing “AN ADVOCATE'S GUIDE TO PHARMACEUTICAL PROGRAMS FOR THE INDIGENT."  The information and links within the reference will be updated and expanded upon as time permits.