Paul Hunt

May 13, 2023

Foto: Pexels consider the health as a fundamental human right As in Colombia, it is something that practically does not happen in any other country in the world. Paul Hunt, a human rights expert who was the UN special rapporteur on the right to health, explains its meaning and differences with human rights, understood as such because of their determining role in the protection of life and human dignity. He considers the right to health “an abbreviation of the right of every person to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”. consider the health as a fundamental human right As in Colombia, it is something that practically does not happen in any other country in the world. Paul Hunt, a human rights expert who was the UN special rapporteur on the right to health, explains its meaning and differences with human rights, understood as such because of their determining role in the protection of life and human dignity. He considers the right to health “an abbreviation of the right of every person to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”. Also read: The growing panorama of domestic violence in Bogotá, what is the antidote? Most of the countries in the world, including Colombia in its Constitution of 1991, incorporate health into economic, social and cultural rights. In the country through doctrine built by the Constitutional Court and later by the Law 1751 of 2015 Health was formally given the quality of a fundamental right, although in reality it refers to the right to care for the disease. The materialization of the right to health requires institutional articulations that include a minimum list of norms and standards that facilitate its operation. These contain requirements such as availability, accessibility, acceptability, quality, participation, non-discrimination, transparency and accountability. Three more of crucial importance are added to the previous list, such as progressive realization, the maximum available resources, and international assistance and cooperation. It is a reality that most of the policies and programs related to the right to health cannot be implemented overnight, they take time, often years or decades depending on the standard that seems to have no limits. In addition, they tend to demand a large amount of resources that countries usually do not have, especially those with medium and low income where assistance and international cooperation are decisive in order to achieve a minimum level of development. For these reasons, health is considered a right of progressive realization subject to the maximum of available resources and to international assistance and cooperation in many cases. Most of the human rights such as life, privacy, the prohibition of torture or inhuman treatment are immediately applicable, therefore they lack the condition of progressive realization and the other characteristics described for the right to health. These substantive differences between human rights and the right to health suggest that the latter should be managed under a human rights approach and not classified as one of these. Although the Colombian health system would be at the forefront of the world in terms of recognizing health as a fundamental right, talking about rights without a material basis that guarantees them all equally, the low standards of developed countries, runs the risk of become mere political rhetoric, a source of frustration and social conflict. Related note: District helps 44 people who, after being deported from the US, were in El Dorado. #Opinion #Luis #Gonzalo #Morales #health #fundamental #human #News #Today 1683943367