The Role of IT in Global Health Disparities and Human Rights

The Right To Health

From an international scope, initial recognition of the right to health may be found in the United Nations Charter document (1945) and was elaborated further in the preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization (1946), with its assertion that: “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.” At the foundation of the global human rights movement is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the United Nations in 1948. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights attests for all humanity the “right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control” (UDHR, Article 25). Human rights are universal by virtue of their equal applicability to all people because of their humanity. As human beings, people are considered to be entitled to particular inalienable rights that are recognized by moral principles and affirmed by the laws of an organized society.