The Highest Attainable Standard WHO, Global Health Governance, and the Contentious Politics of Human

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The Highest Attainable StandardWHO, Global
Health Governance, and the Contentious Politics
of Human Rights

• Benjamin Mason Meier, JD, LLM, MPhil
• Dissertation Defense
• Columbia University
• July 8, 2009

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• Framework Question Methods
• Findings WHO Evolution of the Right to Health
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and
  Cultural Rights (1966)
• Declaration of Alma-Ata (1978)
• Analysis Why did Health for All Fail?
• Fear of Politicizing Health
• Lack of Legal Capacity
• Elevation of Medical Care over Human Rights
• Legacy Implications for WHO Future Research

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Global Health Governance and the Right to Health

• Original Study

• Final Study

• Evolution of Human Right to Health in Law
• Proposal for a Collective Right to Public Health

• WHO is Instrumental to the Evolution of the Right
  to Health
• Development in Law
• Implementation through Programming
• Right to Health Ineffective in Addressing
  Underlying Determinants of Health

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Theoretical Framework

• Conflicting Views on History of WHO in
  Rights-Based Discourse
• Alston (1979) - WHO had an influential presence
  in the evolution of human rights discourse
• Gruskin, Mills, Tarantola (2007) - public health
  and human rights always evolved along parallel
  but distinctly separate tracks

What is the Role of WHO?
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Methods
WHO

• Case Study
• Agenda Setting
• Process Tracing
• Research
• Archival Research
• Interview Research
• Analysis
• Legal Analysis
• Thematic Analysis

UN
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Evolution of the Right to Health
Declaration of Alma-Ata (1978)
UDHR (1948)
ICESCR (1966)
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Why Did WHO Fail?

• Politics - Fear of Politicizing Health
• Law - Lack of Legal Capacity
• Medicine - Rejection of Human Rights Leadership

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Legacy of WHO Neglect

• Right to Health Does Not Address Underlying
  Determinants of Health
• Neoliberal Development Policy Exacerbating
  Health Inequalities

• From Legal Obligation to Non-Binding Commitment
  
• Human Right to Health Medicine
• UN Advances Health Rights

X
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MDGs for Health
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Questions Remain/Future Research

• WHO

• Human Rights

• Will WHO adhere to the UNs current cross-cutting
  approach to human rights?
• How can WHO develop national and international
  legal frameworks for health?

• Does human rights law matter for public health?
• How can health rights be reframed to address
  collective underlying determinants of health?
• What international obligations exist for global
  health?

What is the future of health and human rights?
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Benjamin Mason Meier Assistant Professor of
Global Health Policy UNC Chapel Hill
Committee Ronald Bayer Gerald Oppenheimer Andrew
Nathan Alice Miller Jennifer Prah Ruger