Health and human rights
The interplay between health
and human rights is an
interesting topic that is
increasingly in focus these
days. For a primer on the subject check out the World Health Organization publications (www.who.int/hhr/activities/publications/en). The first
issue, 25 Questions and Answers, answers
basic questions such as "What are human
rights?" and "What is the link between
health and human rights?" as well as
more complex ones - "What implications
could human rights have for evidence
based information?" This bulletin is
informative, easy to read, and available in
several languages.
For a more student specific angle,
visit the American Medical Student Association's web page at
www.amsa.org/global/hhr.cfm. It includes frequently
asked questions, a bibliography, and
other resources.
Some universities have established
centres that focus on health and human
rights. The François-Xavier Bagnoud
Centre at Harvard University
(www.hsph.harvard.edu/fxbcenter) publishes numerous books and the journal
Health and Human Rights. The Center for
Public Health and Human Rights
(www.jhsph.edu/humanrights) was established in 2004 in Johns Hopkins University to study the impact of human rights
violations on the general health of
populations. The University of Minnesota Human Rights Library also has a
useful section (http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/health.html).
Many human rights concerns that
involve health are controversial, which is
why professional guidelines are necessary. The BMA has taken a stand on
questions about doctors and torture,
capital punishment, armed conflicts, and
women (www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/
MedProfhumanRightsRecommendations).
The field is continuously evolving
and updates are published in both
general and specialised journals. For
instance, you can find an array of articles
under "human rights" in the BMJ's
topic collection (http://bmj.com/cgi/collection/human_rights). BioMed
Central's International Health and
Human Rights (www.biomedcentral.com/bmcinthealthhumrights) offers free
online access to articles immediately
after publication.
Time to get involved. Human rights
violations continue to be a sad reality,
even today, and medical students and
doctors can lead the way to change.
Many organisations are working on
these issues, and you can get involved
with them in many ways. The International Student Association for
Health and Human Rights (www.
sph.emory.edu/student/isahhr) has
opportunities for interested student volunteers. Doctors for Human Rights
(www.phruk.org) based in the United
Kingdom, and Physicians for Human
Rights based in the United States (www.
.phrusa.org) are open to membership by
healthcare professionals, both at a lower
rate for students.
Competing interests: None declared.
Bishoy Morris, internal medicine resident, Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, NY, USA
Email: beshoyso@yahoo.com
studentBMJ 2006;14:309-352 September ISSN 0966-6494
