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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Catherine Albisa, JD, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, 666 Broadway, Ste. 625, New York, NY 10112, 212-253-1761, cathy@nesri.org

Human rights standards address the civil, political, economic, social and cultural sphere. Each human right, while formally belonging to one of those categories, in reality encompasses aspects of all of them. This is easily identifiable within the human right to health. Moreover, the right to health within the human rights framework is defined as the right to achieve the “highest attainable standard of health” not merely the absence of disease. Both of these aspects of human rights are consistent with a social determinant approach to health, as they take into account the wide array of factors that influence a person's overall health status. Finally, a human rights and public health approach both have in common an assumption that the primary purpose of a health care system is preserving health, rather than addressing economic interests.

But a human rights approach is not merely consistent with a social determinant/public health model. It can also be employed as a tool to strengthen and promote, through policy and education, such a model. In the context of reproductive health, it brings greater definition and clarity to the parameters of what should be considered reproductive health concerns, and what are acceptable policy measures to influence or coerce reproductive health outcomes. This presentation will address how that tool can be employed and the components and principles within the human rights framework of particular relevance to reproductive health matters. The presentation will specifically use the intersection of health and welfare policy as a case study.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to engage in basic human rights analysis of social policy impacting health, and identify some strategic opportunities to use that analysis to promote a social determinant/public health model for policy reform.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No