Empowering and Capacity Building Health Professionals for Better Human Rights Outcomes (Presentation Slides)

Abstract

In her panel paper Dr Curran of AN discusses how health professionals can utilise the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities:1) To understand human rights and how they are protected in the Charter.2) Identify relevant human rights in real life scenarios.3) Understand how the Charter can be used as an advocacy tool for the empowerment of patients and the achievement of social justice.4) To develop ideas for negotiating better outcomes in local communities.She gives examples of the use of the Charter by medical health professionals to gain better human rights outcomes for their patients from public authorities. One example was of a maternal and child health nurse who used the Charter when a hospital refused to provide urgent medical treatment to an asylum seeker because she could not pay. The feedback from the maternal and child care nurse was that the Charter ‘works’.Symposium Goals:This forum explores the strengths and limitations of human rights and respectful care frameworks in advancing maternity reform in Australia. It seeks to bring together the policy, legal and women’s health communities along with professional providers and birth consumer groups to discuss strategies for improving the quality of care for birthing women and those supporting them.This dialogue was to build on several recent initiatives, including:• the European Human Rights conference held in The Hague in June 2012, • the Childbirth and the Law conference in Sydney in October 2012,• the international White Ribbon Alliance initiative, Respectful Maternity Care.