Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

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

The relevance of health to human rights is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the many treaties and declarations which have followed. Bridges between the disciplines of health and human rights began to appear post-World War II with regards to such issues as torture, mental health and reproductive rights. Recognition of the multi-directional and multi-dimensional nature of the health and rights relationship, however, only emerged in the wake of the HIV pandemic in the 1980s. The Health and Human Rights Movement—for want of a better term-- engendered in the mid-1990s through the pioneering work of Jonathan Mann and collaborators has, ever since, helped to translate principles initially laid out within the boundaries of HIV into an expanding array of policies and programs. Today, health and human rights, together and individually, are gradually taking center stage in international human development, as well as public and political discourse. Health and human rights are now well established as a platform for policy, action and research, and so powerful that even detractors of human rights-sensitive public health approaches use or misuse the terms in order to justify their actions. The field of health and human rights is continuing to grow and impact positively on human development but experience must be methodically documented; evidence of the nature, extent and quality of the interaction between health and rights built with objectivity and methodological rigor; and the engagement of all concerned—professionals and members of civil society alike—firmly secured.

Learning Objectives: