SOCIAL PARTICIPATION POLICY RESOLUTION 2063 OF 2017
WHY IS HEALTH A RIGHT?
The World Health Organization defines it as: Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not only the absence of disease or infirmity, according to the definition presented by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its constitution approved in 1948.
WHAT IS THE RIGHT TO HEALTH?
Rights can be understood as: the set of rules that EXPRESS AN AGREEMENT. That is, it is what is recognized by all. Rights express the values of society and particularly what society considers JUST. When this recognition has been achieved, the law establishes social agreements that are manifested through rules, LAWS that make it possible for society to function. Rights, when they become norms, can be demanded by individuals and communities before the State. The right to health is the possibility of enjoying, individually and collectively, goods, services and adequate conditions of well-being that allow us to have a dignified life. The right to health is the result of the meeting of at least four major fundamental citizen rights that allow health to be understood as a public good (which belongs to everyone):
- The right to life: it is the recognition of life as the highest value of the human being, and the highest right, so it must be guaranteed by the State.
- The right to health care: this means the right that all human beings have to have comprehensive care for diseases, when we need it.
- The right to well-being: it is the possibility of having a healthy life in the best possible conditions and with sufficient access to the available means.
- The right to participation: it is the exercise of citizenship and autonomy in the decision-making process and individual and collective actions, in everything that concerns health, which implies the recognition of opinion, access to information, the exercise of control over public programs and resources, and decision-making on policies that affect everyone’s health.
WHY IS HEALTH A HUMAN RIGHT?
When we talk about Human Rights, we are talking about something that belongs to all of us by virtue of being human beings and that we can demand from the State, and participate in its construction. Human rights are not mere aspirations that we would like to achieve, they are the recognition of our human dignity. For this reason, there are multiple national and international laws, conventions and instruments that recognize and promote the guarantee of human rights and specifically the right to health.
Taken from: MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL PROTECTION, OFFICE OF TERRITORIAL MANAGEMENT, EMERGENCIES AND DISASTERS Group for the Management and Promotion of Social Participation in Health. 2019.
