Experts on health, law and human rights gathered this week at the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) to develop new strategies for strengthening national laws in the countries of the Americas in areas that have an impact on public health.
For Human Rights Day 2013, PAHO/WHO launches new "Umbrellas" campaign, symbolizing protection provided by health-related legislation
Experts on health, law and human rights gathered this week at the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) to develop new strategies for strengthening national laws in the countries of the Americas in areas that have an impact on public health.
At the end of a two-day workshop, participants made recommendations on priority areas that require special attention in developing legislation related to health. These included:
- Protection of the right to access, without discrimination, to health goods and services.
- Elimination of legal barriers related to ethnicity and gender identity.
- Implementation and reform of existing laws to ensure concordance with international legal instruments that protect the right to health.
- Training of health personnel as well as judges and lawmakers on health-related law and human rights.
- Strengthening of legislation in coordination with other regional and international organizations.
Participants in the workshop, "Scaling up health-related legislative initiatives in the region of the Americas," included lawmakers from Latin America and the Caribbean along with representatives of academic institutions, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS), the World Bank, the Organization of American States, civil society organizations, and PAHO/WHO country offices and technical units.
In addition to their recommended areas for future action, participants also pointed to the need for manuals and other practical tools on legislative reform and called for closer collaboration with treaty bodies, rapporteurs and working groups of the U.N. and OAS systems and with national health authorities and parliaments in the revision and development of legislation related to health.
Dr. Heidi Jiménez, PAHO/WHO Legal Counsel, said her office would support and strengthen the network of experts who participated in the workshop and would follow up on their recommendations in close cooperation with PAHO/WHO country offices "to strengthen legislative initiatives related to health even more throughout the Region."
The two-day workshop ended with a celebration of international Human Rights Day 2013 honoring the late Dr. Jonathan Mann, a pioneering promoter of the right to health, and giving special recognition to three PAHO/WHO entities for their outstanding work in promoting human rights: the Mental Health and Substance Use unit, the Healthy Life Course unit, and the PAHO/WHO Representative Office in Guatemala. Among the participants in this event were Dr. Larry Gostin, Director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University; Dr. Sofía Groskin, Director of the Program on Global Health & Human Rights at the University of Southern California's Institute for Global Health—both of whom worked personally with Jonathan Mann to promote the links between health, human rights and public policy.
During the Human Rights Day celebration, Legal Counsel Heidi Jiménez and Human Rights Advisor Javier Vásquez launched a new PAHO/WHO campaign titled "Umbrellas," symbolizing the protection that health-related laws provide to all people and communities.
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