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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Daniel Tarantola, Prof, Faculty of Medicine School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, UNSW, Samuels Building Room 228, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia, 61 2 9385 8268, d.tarantola@unsw.edu.au

Recognizing human rights in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health policies and programs can help point the way toward more effective action. Human rights are governmental obligations towards individuals, and because these obligations include the protection of public health, they are relevant to the design, implementation, and evaluation of health policies and programs. Examining public health through a human-rights lens means looking not only at the technical and operational aspects of public health interventions but also at the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural factors that surround them. These factors may include underlying unequal treatment or discrimination, for example on the basis of gender relations, religious beliefs, homophobia, or racism. Individually and in synergy, they influence the extent to which individuals and communities are able to access services or to make and effectuate free and informed decisions about their lives and, therefore, the extent of their vulnerability to ill-health. Health and human rights principles are relevant to the analytical and decision-making processes as well as to their outcome, measured as effective health policies, programs and practice, and greater realization of human rights. Bridging adequately the research and education gaps mapped out during this session will determine the future of public health.

Learning Objectives:

• To bring together concisely the main points of earlier presentations in this panel
• To enable participants to recognize key principles of health and human rights and appreciate their value to ther public health practice
• To stimulate participant's interest in health and human rights-related research and education

Keywords: Human Rights, Public Health Movements

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation