John Harrington and Maria Stuttaford (eds). Global Health and Human Rights: Legal and Philosophical Perspectives * John Tobin. The Right to Health in International Law

Abstract

Two recent publications present a defence of the right to health as it is articulated in interna- tional law and also provide insights into the array of impediments to realizing the health right. Despite a perceived conceptual lack of coherence and a limited appreciation of its relevance among health care professionals identified in these two books, the right to health has never- theless succeeded in capturing greater attention in global policy circles. Local health care sys- tem reform initiatives around the globe increasingly make reference to the right to health. Both books are particularly helpful additions to the literature in light of recent advances in the devel- opment of the health right.1 Yet, each offers a very different assessment of its present status and prognosis for its future development. John Harrington and Maria Stuttaford’s edited volume brings together a variety of interna- tionally renowned scholars of law, philosophy, and health policy to offer an interdisciplinary exploration of the ‘development of rights-based approaches to health’ (at i). John Tobin’s book also draws from a range of different disciplines and offers a truly outstanding and comprehen- sive examination of the health right. From the history of its inclusion in the corpus of inter- national law, to its conceptual foundations and substantive content, to measures required to secure it, Tobin’s text on the right to health could well be the most helpful to date. It provides an accessible overview to readers interested in understanding obligations arising from the right to health under international law and impediments to implementation. A central organizing claim of the Harrington and Stuttaford volume is that the right to health, previously relegated to a secondary status in the hierarchy of human rights, now enjoys an elevated status as policy makers and health practioners increasingly realize that approaching problems in health care delivery systems and public health through a human rights framework can be valuable. The editors argue that recognition of the right to health can be valuable to give normative force to imperatives as varied as ensuring access to essential medicines and creating international cooperation to combat disease. Accordingly, the contributions included in their collection are intended to ‘demonstrate, the right to health has a powerful and wide-ranging contribution to make to law, politics and policy-making’ (at 3). The principal aim of the volume is to show the ‘cognitive, archaeological and critical’ advances that the health right can provide to debates in law, politics, and policy (at 3). The ‘cognitive’ aspect of the contribution the right to health can offer to law and policy involves moving beyond the ‘self-referential terms of legal argument’ towards a closer pair- ing of human rights law with public health. Hunt and Leader’s chapter on the Role of the UN Special Rapporteur on ‘Developing and Applying the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health’ best highlights the importance of appreciating the disciplinary symbiosis between human rights law and public health. The authors advocate ‘parallel processing’ to assess 1 The following list is far from exhaustive. However, other noteworthy recent publications that address global health problems and the right to health in international law include: M. Grodin, D. Tarantola, G. Annas, and S. Gruskin (eds), Health and Human Rights in a Changing World (2013); J.M. Zuniga, S.P. Marks, and L.O. Gostin (eds), Advancing the Human Right to Health (2013); J. Ruger, Health and Social Justice (2012); N. Daniels, Just Health: Meeting Health Needs Fairly (2008); A. Buchanan (ed.), Justice and Health Care: Selected Essays (2009); A.E. Yamin and S. Gloppen (eds), Litigating Health Rights: Can Courts Bring More Justice to Health? (2011); Sen, ‘Why and How is Health a Human Right?’, 372 Lancet (2008) 2010; O. Aginam and O. Okafor, Global Health Governance: International Law and Public Health in a Divided World (2005). Downloaded