Conceptualizing Human Rights and “Access” to Medication

Abstract

The issue of “access” to medication, and the lack of it, has long been associated with the stark inequalities characterizing the global AIDS epidemic. Although treatment has been available since the mid-1990s, this was confined to more developed countries, or, wealthier people living with AIDS in the global south who could afford it. In effect, poorer regions were priced out until recently. This disparity immediately qualifies whether something is accessible or merely available between and within countries. Human rights have played a pivotal role in galvanizing responses to correct for the lack of access. Yet, there are deep-seated tensions within human rights discourse and practice concerning whether priority should be given, first, to “freedoms” (civil and political rights) or to “freedom from want” (socioeconomic rights), and, second, how to accommodate different cultural contexts within the universal values of human rights. It is therefore of intrigue to inquire about how human rights interface and deal with issues of culture and socioeconomic and political inequality. That is, if we accept that human rights are a part of the social world we live in, and if they are to remain something other than abstract and normative principles, they require meaningful awareness of, and negotiation with, social practices.