Recent Changes

Condensed:‍Condened‍:
The right to health obliges States to take necessary steps for the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases. In meeting this obligation, States must ensure that appropriate goods, services and information for the prevention, treatment and control of diseases are sufficiently available and both physically and economically accessible for all without discrimination. States must develop and implement awareness campaigns and prevent the spread of inaccurate information with regard to behaviour-related concerns such as sexually transmitted diseases and the tobacco, narcotics, alcohol and other harmful substances
The right to treatment includes the creation of a system of urgent medical care in cases of accidents, epidemics and similar health hazards, and the provision of disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in emergency situations. Furthermore, States should carry out regular immunization exercises against major infectious diseases.

comment reply
It is actually a duplication of the above. Please find out what happened to the "forced medical treatment" entry.

comment added
There's a typo in the heading for this entry!! It should be "Failure to ensure disease prevention, treatment...".

(2)accessible, without discrimination, at a health facility within safe physical reach and administered by skilled medical personnel when needed; and
(3) affordable to all, including those living in poverty and other disadvantaged groups.[6]
state may violatebe in violatation of the right Rapporteur on Healththe right to health provides that
International human rights monitoring bodies have not considered many cases dealing with access to essential medicines. In Jorge Odir Miranda et al v El Salvador, 27 persons living with HIV argued that El Salvador violated the[ir] right to life, health, and well being … inasmuch as it has not provided them with the triple therapy medication needed to prevent them from dying and to improve their quality of life.’[10] In its decision on the merits the Inter-American Commission found that the state had taken ‘what steps it reasonably could to provide medical treatment’.[11] These steps included the purchase of anti-retroviral drugs and the provision of such drugs to the complainants when needed. The Commission noted that no retrogressive steps had been taken.
Deportation to a country where essential medicines are not accessible may constitute a human rights violation. This has been recognized by the ECtHR which held that deportation was prohibited in terms of article 3 of the ECHR (prohibiting inhuman or degrading treatment) where there would be no care for a terminally ill deported person in his or her country of origin.[12] Since there is no article on the right to health in the ECHR, in other cases, mainly dealing with HIV/AIDS, the ECtHR has held that since adequate treatment is in principle available though unaffordable there was no violation of the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment under the ECHR.[13]

Condensed:
The right to health obliges States to take necessary steps for the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases. In meeting this obligation, States must ensure that appropriate goods, services and information for the prevention, treatment and control of diseases are sufficiently available and both physically and economically accessible for all without discrimination. States must develop and implement awareness campaigns and prevent the spread of inaccurate information with regard to behaviour-related concerns such as sexually transmitted diseases and the tobacco, narcotics, alcohol and other harmful substances
[4] CESCR General Comment 14 para 44(d)
[5] CRC General Comment 4 para 30; See also various concluding observations by treaty bodies that recommend that states take measures to ensure prevention of early pregnancies and the control of sexually transmitted diseases eg CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations: Netherlands (2007) para 38; CRC Committee, Concluding Observations: Lithuania (2001) para 39.
14 para
[7] CESCR General Comment 14 para 16
[8] CESR General Comment 14 para 51

Condensed:
States have an obligation
Condensed:
The right to refrain from applying coercive medical treatments, unless on an exceptional basishealth obliges States to take necessary steps for the prevention, treatment of mental illness or the prevention and control of communicableepidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases.
Medical experimentation on humans informed consentIn meeting this obligation, States must ensure that may be withdrawn at anytime. Sometimes medical experimentation takes place in settings in which individuals may have extreme difficulty asserting their rights, such as in prisons, mental institutions,appropriate goods, services and information for the military. Proposals for medical experimentation on humans should be independently reviewed before patientsprevention, treatment and control of diseases are asked to participatesufficiently available and approve written consent forms.
Comprehensive:
Forced medical treatment is involuntary treatment undertakenboth physically and economically accessible for all without a person’s consent. It is prohibited by article 7discrimination. States must develop and implement awareness campaigns and prevent the spread of inaccurate information with regard to behaviour-related concerns such as sexually transmitted diseases and the ICCPRtobacco, narcotics, alcohol and other international and regional human rights instruments.[1] States have an obligationharmful substances
The right to refrain ‘from applying coercive medical treatments, unless on an exceptional basis for the treatment of mental illness orincludes the prevention and controlcreation of communicable diseases. Such exceptionala system of urgent medical care in cases should be subject to specificof accidents, epidemics and restrictive conditions, respecting best practicessimilar health hazards, and applicable international standards, including the Principles for the Protectionprovision of Persons with Mental Illnessdisaster relief and the Improvementhumanitarian assistance in emergency situations. Furthermore, States should carry out regular immunization exercises against major infectious diseases.
Comprehensive:
According to article 12(2)(c) of Mental Health Care’.[2]
For forced medical treatmentICESCR steps States are to be permissible with regardtake to achieve the mentally ill there must be
(a) a serious likelihoodfull realization of immediate or imminent harm to the person orright to others; or
(b) that, inhealth include, ‘those necessary for the caseprevention, treatment and control of a person whose mental illness is severeepidemic, endemic, occupational and whose judgement is impaired, failure to admit or retainother diseases.’ [1]
States must ensure that person is likely to lead to a serious deterioration in his or her condition or will prevent the giving of appropriate goods, services and accurate information for the prevention, treatment that can only be given by admissionand control of diseases are available and accessible for all without discrimination, especially for the vulnerable or marginalized groups.[2] According to athe Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,[3] States must give priority ‘to provide education and access to information concerning the main health facilityproblems in accordance with the principlelocal communities including methods of the least restrictive alternative.[3]
(See *forced institutionalisation*).
The natureprevention and duration and purpose of medical experimentation should be made knowncontrolling them.’[4] This obliges States to the participant.[4] The methoddevelop and means by which medical experiment is to be conducted should be explainedimplement effective prevention programmes, such as awareness campaigns for behaviour-related concerns, such as sexually transmitted diseases, including in particular HIV/AIDS;[5] the dangersuse and effects on ones health.[5] The Helsinki Declaration notes that ‘every medical research study involving human subjects must be preceded by careful assessmentabuse of predictable riskstobacco, alcohol and burdens toother substances;[6] as well as the individualsdeterminants of good health, such as safe drinking water, adequate and nutritious feeding, child breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental safety, and communities involved in the research in comparison with foreseeable benefitsprevention of accidents.[7]
States must remove all barriers hindering access to themaccurate information and effective measures for the prevention, control and treatment of diseases. Such barriers include the failure to other individualsregulate, prohibit or communities affected bytake effective measures against the condition under investigation’.[6]Therefore, clinical researchpromotion of misleading information on human subjects cannot legitimately be carried out unless the importanceproduction, advertisement, marketing and consumption of the objective is in proportiontobacco, narcotics, alcohol and other harmful substances,[8] or to protect consumers and workers from practices detrimental to health and the inherent riskenvironment, by employers and manufacturers of medicines or food,[9]or failure to the subject.
The Declaration goespromote and enforce laws against water, air and soil pollution.[10] The failure to prohibit or act against stigmatization, criminalization or discrimination on health status or sexual orientation constitutes a barrier to say, that ‘the potential subject must be informedprevention, control and treatment of diseases.[11]Stigmatization or criminalization of consensual same-sex conduct not only impedes the right to refusehealth through discrimination but also deny equality of access to participate in the study orprevention, treatment and care for affected persons.[12]
In relation to withdraw consentchildren, the CRC Committee notes that prevention programmes in relation to participate at any time without reprisal’.[7] The natureHIV/AIDS are generally designed for adults with little regard for the best interests of consent should be voluntary and informed.the child.[13] The personCommittee recommends that effective prevention programmes should be able to exercise free volition withouttake account of the interventionrealities of any elementthe lives of force, fraud, deceit, duress or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion. Payment for participation in medical research should not be such asadolescents while addressing sexuality by ensuring equal access to ‘induce prospective subjectsappropriate information, life skills, and to consent to participate inpreventive measures.[14] Prevention and treatment programmes should also take account of the research against their better judgment.’[8] Agreementneeds of prisoners to undergo medical experiments in exchange of, for example, shortening of imprisonment, is interfering with his or her free consent.vulnerable individuals.
The HRC has held that ‘special protection in regardright to such experiments is necessary in the casetreatment includes ‘the creation of persons not capablea system of giving valid consent, andurgent medical care in particular those under any formcases of detention or imprisonment. Such persons should not be subjected to any medical or scientific experimentation that may be detrimental to their health’.[9] Medical research on children is only allowed ifaccidents, epidemics and similar health hazards, and the research is for benefitprovision of childrendisaster relief and cannot be conducted on adults. Permissionhumanitarian assistance in emergency situations’.[15]
States must be obtained from a parent or legal representativetake measures to prevent and control the willspread of contagious diseases by carrying out regular immunization exercises against the child should be respected.[10]
Guideline 2 ofmajor infectious diseases throughout the International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects providescountry and ensuring that proposals forpeople have unhindered access to vaccines, drugs, essential medicines, and urgent medical experimentation on human subject must be subject to review:
All proposals to conduct research involving human subjects must be submitted for reviewcare in cases of their scientific meritaccidents, epidemics and ethical acceptabilitysimilar health hazards.[16] In order to one or morecontrol diseases, States must endeavour to fund scientific review and ethical review committees. The review committees must be independent of themedical research team, and any direct financialensure that appropriate technologies for the prevention or other material benefit they may derive from the researchcontrol of diseases are universally available and accessible.
Prevention, treatment and control programmes should not be contingent ontake account of the outcomeneeds of their review. The investigator must obtain their approval or clearance before undertakingvulnerable individuals. In Minister of Health and Others v Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a case that dealt with government’s policy for the research. The ethical review committee should conduct further reviews as necessary in the courseprevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the research, including monitoringConstitutional Court of its progress.
In Vianna Acosta v Uruguay,[11]South Africa found the applicant claimed that in 1976 he was subjectedgovernment’s policy to psychiatric experiments and that for three years, against his will tranquilizers were administeredrestrict access to him every two weeks. When he put up resistanceNevirapine to be unreasonable and therefore non-compliant with the injections, a group of soldiers subdued him in orderconstitutional right to inject the drug. He was subsequently held incommunicado in a punishment cell for 45 days without any medical attention.health.[17] The HRC found a violationimplementation of ICCPR art 7 and 10(1) since the applicantprevention programme was subjectedconfined to inhuman treatment.
[1] HRC, General Comment 20, para 2 has interpreted ICCPR art 7 to meanpilot sites. The Court held that this policy was not reasonable as it aims ‘to protect bothfailed to address the dignityneeds of women and children who did not have access to the physical and mental integritypilot sites, most of the individual’; ECHR art 3;ACHR art 5; Revised Arab Charter art 9; CRPD art 15; European Biomedicine Convention art 17; UNESCO Declaration on Bioethicswhom were poor, thus differentiating between those who could afford to pay and Human Rights arts 6 and 7; Body of Principles forthose who could not afford to access the Protectionservices.[18]
[1] See also Additional Protocol ACHR (Protocol of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment principle 22 widens the scope of prohibition and state that ‘no detained or imprisoned person shall, even with his consent, be subjected to any medical or scientific experimentation which may be detrimental to his health’; First and Second Geneva ConventionSan Salvador) art 12; Third Geneva Convention10(c),(d); art 13; Fourth Geneva Convention11(3) ESC; CERD art 32.
[2]5(e)(iv).
[2]CESCR General Commen 14 para 8.
[3] CESCR General 14 para 34;para 11.
[4] CESCR General Assembly Resolution 46/119 (1991).
[3] See Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Health Care (MI Principles) principle 16.1.
[4] World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (6/1964) (Helsinki Declaration) principle 24.Comment 14 para 44(d)
[5] Helsinki Declaration principle 18.
[6] Helsinki Declaration principle 18;CRC General Comment 4 para 30; See as well Independent Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects (2002). The Nuremburg Code: Directives for Human Experimentation (1948) providesalso various concluding observations by treaty bodies that (a)subjects of medical experimentation must provide voluntary, informed consent; (b) the experiment must yield socially useful resultsrecommend that would not have been obtainable by other means;(c) the experiment should be conductedstates take measures to minimise risk to the subject;ensure prevention of early pregnancies and (d) the experiment must be terminated if the researcher believes that it may cause harm to the subject.control of sexually transmitted diseases eg CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations: Netherlands (2007) para 38; CRC Committee, Concluding Observations: Lithuania (2001) para 39.
[6]CESCR General Comment 14 para
[7] Helsinki Declaration principle 24. See also International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects guidelines 4-6.CESCR General Comment 14 para 16
[8] International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects guideline 7.CESR General Comment 14 para 51
[9] HRCCESCR General Comment 2014 para 7. See as well34.
[10] CESCR General 14 para 8 which specifies that51.
[11] Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to health contains both freedomthe enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and entitlements, which includemental health Anand Grover, UN Doc.A/HRC/14/20 (2010) para 25
[12] Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to be free from torture, non-consensual medical treatmentthe enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and experimentation.
[10] International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects guideline 14. See also HRC Concluding Observations: Netherlands, CCPR/C/NLD/CO/4 (2009).
[11] Vianna Acosta v Uruguay communication 110/1981 (HRC 1984)mental health Paul Hunt, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/58 para 2.7 and 15.68
[13] CRC General Comment 3 para 10.
[14] CRC Committee, General Comment 3 para 11.
[15] CESCR General Comment 14 para 16.
[16] CESCR General Comment 14 para 16.
[17] 2002(5) SA 721; 2002 (10) BCLR 1033.6.
[18] TAC case paras 67-73.

Condensed:Condensed:
The right to health obliges States to take necessary steps for the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases. In meeting this obligation, States must ensure that appropriate goods, services and information for the prevention, treatment and control of diseases are sufficiently available and both physically and economically accessible for all without discrimination. States must develop and implement awareness campaigns and prevent the spread of inaccurate information with regard to behaviour-related concerns such as sexually transmitted diseases and the tobacco, narcotics, alcohol and other harmful substances
The right to treatment includes the creation of a system of urgent medical care in cases of accidents, epidemics and similar health hazards, and the provision of disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in emergency situations. Furthermore, States should carry out regular immunization exercises against major infectious diseases.

Comprehensive:
According to article 12(2)(c) of ICESCR steps States are to take to achieve the full realization of the right to health include, ‘those necessary for the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases.’ [1]
[4] CESCR General Comment 14 para 44(d)
[5] CRC General Comment 4 para 30; See also various concluding observations by treaty bodies that recommend that states take measures to ensure prevention of early pregnancies and the control of sexually transmitted diseases eg CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations: Netherlands (2007) para 38; CRC Committee, Concluding Observations: Lithuania (2001) para 39.
14 para
[7] CESCR General Comment 14 para 16
[8] CESR General Comment 14 para 51

Condensed:
The
The right to harmful substances
The
The right to infectious diseases.
Comprehensive:

Comprehensive:
According to article 12(2)(c) of ICESCR steps States are to take to achieve the full realization of the right to health include, ‘those necessary for the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases.’ [1]
States must ensure that appropriate goods, services and accurate information for the prevention, treatment and control of diseases are available and accessible for all without discrimination, especially for the vulnerable or marginalized groups.[2] According to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,[3] States must give priority ‘to provide education and access to information concerning the main health problems in the local communities including methods of prevention and controlling them.’[4] This obliges States to develop and implement effective prevention programmes, such as awareness campaigns for behaviour-related concerns, such as sexually transmitted diseases, including in particular HIV/AIDS;[5] the use and abuse of tobacco, alcohol and other substances;[6] as well as the determinants of good health, such as safe drinking water, adequate and nutritious feeding, child breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental safety, and the prevention of accidents.[7]
medicines or food,[9] orfood,[9]or failure to treatment of diseases.[11] Stigmatizationdiseases.[11]Stigmatization or criminalization to preventive measures.[14]Preventionmeasures.[14] Prevention and treatment
The right to treatment includes ‘the creation of a system of urgent medical care in cases of accidents, epidemics and similar health hazards, and the provision of disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in emergency situations’.[15]
similar health hazards.[16]Inhazards.[16] In order to and accessible.
Prevention,
Prevention, treatment and right to health.[17]Thehealth.[17] The implementation of
[1] See also Additional Protocol ACHR (Protocol of San Salvador) art 10(c),(d); art 11(3) ESC; CERD art 5(e)(iv).
para 8.
[3]CESCR
[3] CESCR General Comment para 11.
[4]CESCR
[4] CESCR General Comment para 44(d)
[5] CRC General Comment 4 para 30; See also various concluding observations by treaty bodies that recommend that states take measures to ensure prevention of early pregnancies and the control of sexually transmitted diseases eg CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations: Netherlands (2007) para 38; CRC Committee, Concluding Observations: Lithuania (2001) para 39.
[6] CESCR General Comment 14 para
[7]CESCR[7] CESCR General Comment para 16
[8]
[8] CESR General para 51
[9]CESCR
[9] CESCR General Comment para 34.
[10] CESCR General Comment 14 para 51.
Grover, UN Doc. A/HRC/14/20Doc.A/HRC/14/20 (2010) para 25
[12] Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health Paul Hunt, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/58 para 68
[13] CRC General Comment 3 para 10.