Containment - lecture 7 - infectious disease and human rights

UDHR

• ART 25, standard of living/health/wellbeing

ICESCR

• the right to health

• requires to set up a health system

ICCPR

• art 6, the right to life 

• (american) 

• freedom of speech, right of assembly 

difference between positive and negative rights

• negative rights → governments should not harm your rights (of speech/assembly) 

• positive rights → 

4 important rights / terms to know 

• equality → don’t discriminate, treat everybody equal 

• dignity → treat people with dignity and respect. don’t humiliate 

• liberty → freedom, autonomy. informed consent. free to make your own decisions. 

• security → individual safety (no unsafe medicine / treatment). also includes security against diseases (prevention). 

important terms about human rights

• proportional → if we deviate from human rights it should be proportional (e.g. someone has Ebola, needs to be in isolation, do it for the 

• universal → for everyone around the world. 

• subsidiarity → there should not be an alternative that is better (we do not want to violate human rights)

• duration → if we violate human rights it should be as short as possible. 

explain what increases stigma

• Discrimination and coercive tools such as compulsory
  testing, named reporting, travel restrictions, and isolation
  or quarantine were counterproductive

• this violates especially freedom and dignity

• Siracusa principle: public health may invoke derogations

  
  

treatment actions group

• went to court in south Africa

• sued pharmaceutical companies that anti retro viral medication should be available

• used human rights as an argument

siracusa principls

PHEIC

• public health emergency of international concern

• ormal declaration by the WHO of "an
  extraordinary event which is determined
  to constitute a public health risk to other
  States through the international spread
  of disease and to potentially require a
  coordinated international response",
  formulated when a situation arises that
  is "serious, sudden, unusual, or
  unexpected", which "carries implications
  for public health beyond the affected
  state's national border" and "may
  require immediate international action"

EXAM 7 moments of public health concern after SARS

• ebola (twice) 

• mexican flu? 

• monkey pox 

• covid

• zika virus 

• polio (ongoing emergency) 

• swine flu 

adverse effects of Covid treatment 

• 47000 additional malaria deaths in 2020

• 100000 additional tuberculosis deaths.

• Severe disruption of vaccination programs

• 121 (93%) of 130 countries reported mental health
  service disruptions, as depression and anxiety
  levels greatly increased

• COVID-19 prevalence during Brazil’s first wave was
  four-times higher for Indigenous populations than
  White Brazilian people

• more than 200 million additional people faced acute
  hunger

• nearly 90 million people into extreme poverty.

• Policy was discriminatory and inequitable (migrants)

• 463 million (1/3) of children could not access (online)
  education

• Violence against women increased

• Leaders ignored evidence; Religious festivals, divine
  interventions, not closing businesses

• Critics / health workers were detained

exam question

when something is asked about human rights argue it through the terms talked about (equality, dignity, liberty, security, proportional, universal, subsidiarity, duration)