Is access to medicines all we got?: Conceptualizing a human right to HIV prevention systems in global health policy

Since the beginning of the pandemic, nearly 60 million people have been infected with HIV, and 25 million have died of HIV-related causes. Despite progress in distributing antiretroviral therapy, only a fraction of those needing treatment are receiving it. Because treatment serves to prolong life rather than cure disease, the treatment paradigm cannot halt HIV; for every two people initiating treatment, another five become infected. These public health realities highlight the failure of rights-based treatment advocacy in stemming the pandemic and implicate a renewed and sustained commitment to HIV prevention policy in international law.

This mixed-methods analysis of international human rights law examines the evolution of the inextricable linkages of human rights in HIV/AIDS policy -- from the negative-rights of the HIV infected to the positive-rights to HIV treatment. Based upon the failure of global access to treatment policies under international law, this rights-based legal analysis concludes that states cannot fulfill their responsibilities pursuant to an individual right to health through the contemporary rights-based approach to treatment alone. There is a moral imperative for improved and expanded prevention efforts, yet human rights are inherently limited in framing collective prevention policy.

Given this conclusion, the present research proposes a shift in human rights law from an individual right to treatment to a collective rights-based approach to prevention--including global health policy supportive of vaccine, prophylaxis, and microbicide research; family planning; and primary healthcare--refocusing global health policy to prevent the spread of HIV and realize the highest attainable standard of health.