Right to Health and Human Rights during Pandemic

Abstract

Human rights scrutiny in the COVID-19 pandemic has largely focused on limitations of individual freedoms to protect public health, yet it is essential to look at the broader relevance of realizing human rights to promote public health in the COVID-19 response. The human right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health provides binding normative guidance for health-care systems, broader social responses, and global solidarity. As recognised in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the right to health requires that states take steps for the “prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases” and to assure “medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness”. The right to health requires that health goods, services, and facilities are available in adequate numbers; accessible on a financial, geographical, and non-discriminatory basis; acceptable, including culturally appropriate and respectful of gender and medical ethics; and of good quality. However, many states have faced difficulties in ensuring the availability and accessibility of COVID-19-related health coverage, leading to shortages in essential medical care, including diagnostic tests, ventilators, and oxygen, and in personal protective equipment for health-care workers and other front-line staff. In some countries, austerity measures, structural adjustment programmes, and user fees have rendered essential services inaccessible for some vulnerable populations. Implementation of the right to health through health systems requires that treatment is based on medical evidence. This Paper provides a complete analysis of Health and Human Rights which is framed in an International Level, which is a basic right of every living being on Planet during and after Pandemic. As COVID-19 has spread throughout the world, domestic public health responses have neglected human rights. Human rights are crucial to public health promotion, yet there are significant gaps in how human rights are being monitored during the pandemic response. Existing efforts to track potential human rights violations in domestic responses to COVID-19 are neither comparative nor comprehensive. To fill this gap, i have developed a novel, comparative database to systematically track media coverage of potential human rights violations. Using these data both in nation and international, i examine how public health policies impacted human rights realization across countries during the first few months of the pandemic and how it needs changes by being aware with the system and needs as required by the development in the society. I used a systematic qualitative coding methodology to examine the extent and range of media coverage at the intersection of COVID-19, public health, and human rights. Using a structured key-term search strategy went through the search from the NexisUni news database for English-language media reports. Results were screened based on pre-determined eligibility criteria, such as whether the report discussed a public health action (or inaction) in response to COVID-19 and described the human rights implications of that action (or inaction). Reports were coded by geographic location, type of public health response, human rights implications, and populations impacted. To guide the coding process, i developed a codebook based on WHO frameworks in public health and UN frameworks in human rights. In the first few months of the pandemic, media coverage of domestic public health responses to COVID-19 increased rapidly as the crisis escalated. This coverage included a wide range of public health actions that impacted human rights across six geographic regions. I mainly focused on identification of 17 public health actions that impact 24 distinct human rights, and noted that domestic public health responses were reported to have consequences for the range of civil, political, economic, and social rights that underlie public health. For example, domestic actions to implement lockdown measures were reported to have implications for the human rights to life, liberty and security of person, health, work, and education. These effects were reported to have been experienced differently across national contexts and disproportionately impacted the human rights of particular groups, including women and minority populations. Public health and human rights are inextricably linked in the COVID-19 pandemic. Ongoing data collection and comparative analysis can inform domestic best practices and future pandemic preparedness efforts. My comparative database provides a foundation for future research that examines the public health impacts of human rights violations in the pandemic response.