It has been maintained that the right to health is a universally acknowledged fundamental right. It suffices to glance at article 25 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of 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.” Is health care really accessible to everyone, as the Universal Declaration on Human Rights seems to presume?

Before replying to this question, it is perhaps more useful to see the specifications that General Comment No. 14 offers concerning the Substantive Issues arising from the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Comment 14 singles out the essential conditions for States to guarantee, namely: (1) the right of access to health care in a non-discriminatory way, (2) access to basic nutritional level, (3) access to housing, basic sanitation and a sufficient supply of drinking water, (4) the supply of essential drugs, (5) a just distribution of benefits and health services, and (6) adoption of national strategies to prevent and combat epidemics.

A major obstacle that hinders the accomplishment of the aforementioned rights is the absence of access to affordable medicines and the diagnostic tools that can be provided and employed in low-income, low-technology contexts. According to the Report of the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health commissioned by the World Heath Organization, “diseases of poverty” make up 50 per cent of this plight of disease in developing countries up to now, which roughly means 10 times higher than the rate in developed countries. The World Health Report entitled “Primary Health Care Now More than Ever” revealed that more than 100 million people find themselves in poverty every year because they have to pay for health care. The report also says that in developing countries, patients have to pay for 50 to 90 per cent of basic medicines. In another study by the World Health Organisation entitled “WHO Medicines Strategy: Countries at the Core, 2004-2007”, it was reported that approximately two billion people do not have access to basic medicines.

An unfortunate group specifically divested from this vital right is that of children. In effect, several basic medicines have not still been developed in proper formulations or dosages for paediatric treatment. Both families and care workers frequently resort to guess on how best to divide adult-size pills for children. Sadly, this situation can cause fatal loss of life or prolonged chronic illness. For instance, of the 2.1 million children believed to have contracted the HIV infection, only 38 per cent had been provided with life-saving anti-retroviral medications by the end of 2008.

In view of this calamitous state of affairs, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its Thirty-Second Session, boldly affirmed that “the obligations of States parties under the Convention extend to ensuring that children have sustained and equal access to comprehensive treatment and care, including necessary HIV-related drugs … on a basis of non-discrimination”.

As a leading stakeholder, the World Health Organisation is to renew its commitment to protect the right to health by assuring equitable access to basic medicines. On her part, the Church offers a major contribution to health care in every part of the globe through the incessant work of local churches, religious institutions and private initiatives. This outstanding contribution can be translated to the promotion of 5,378 hospitals, 18,088 dispensaries and clinics, 521 leprosaria, and 15,448 homes for the aged, the chronically ill, or disabled people. With such solid accumulated experience gained from working among the most poor, isolated and marginalized communities in the health care sector, the Church grew in her conviction that every human being has to receive equal treatment because of his/her own inherent dignity.

Equitable access to physical and mental health care is humanly and Christianly possible!

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap

SAN GWANN