Enhanced human health has and remains to be a comprehensive concern across various settings all over the globe. The World Health Organization has and continues to play a comprehensive role in addressing health issues that have become eminent in the contemporary world. As an example, the recent past has experienced the emergence of Ebola, which has resulted in a number of deaths all around the globe. The World Health Organization has been vocal in addressing this epidemic, which continues to rage havoc for various populations. The World Health Organization is guided by its constitution, which countries must conform to in order to become members. Kenya, India, and United Kingdom occurs as some of the World Health Organization’s member states who have utilized international human rights law to enhance the health status of its populations.
In Kenya, there are various ways in which international human rights law has and continues to improve the health status of the Kenya populations since the year 2002. More importantly, sexual and reproductive health occurs as one of the fundamental human rights enshrined as part of the international human rights law. With regards to this, Kenya has made immense developments, which has offered a viable platform in which sexual and reproductive health of its populations can be improved. In the year 2000, Kenya implemented a regulation, which states that every Kenyan, including pregnant mothers shall not be denied emergency medical treatment. In addition, this regulation stated that the government shall provide adequate social security for all Kenyans who lack the capability to support themselves as well as their dependants. Since the implementation of this regulation, various populations have had enhanced access to medical services, which was not the case in the past. This is just a glimpse of how international human rights law has contributed to the improvement of the health status of Kenyan populations (Church et al., 2007).
In India, the government since the year 2002 has made some improvements on matters regarding human rights. However, this country has a lot to do to guarantee comprehensive human rights for all its citizens. There are various ways in which international human rights law has propelled the Indian government to put more efforts towards addressing human rights concerns. As an example, access to palliative care for various Indian populations was an eminent problem before the year 2002. However, since the year 2002, India has made immense steps towards addressing the issues that hinder access to palliative by Indians with chronic health problems. This is evident by the fact that the Indian government became actively engaged in encouraging the construction of regional centres catering for Indians with chronic health conditions that require palliative care. These centres guarantee access to palliative care for all Indians. Similarly, this country passed an act that enhanced the medical availability of morphine, which is a medication used for palliative care (Gibney, 2008).
While it is true that international human rights law has been vocal in the United Kingdom, there are various instances that occurred close to the year 2002, which demonstrated the manner in which the human rights law has contributed to the improvement in the health care of United Kingdom’s citizens. As an example, the year 1997 experienced development of immense criticism of the National Health Service (NHS) Patient’s Charter (46) whereby it was hypothesized that it was a political document aimed containing complaints arising regarding provision of patient care across various health care settings. As a result, the charter was restructured, and its amendments implemented after the year 2002, and this resulted in an enhanced health care for the United Kingdom’s citizens. As an example, the restructuring spelt out the need to assure respect of patient privacy, religious beliefs and dignity, and this contributed to an improvement in patient care (Steiner et al., 2008).
References
Church, J., Schulze, C., & Strydom, H. (2007). Human rights from a comparative and international law perspective. Pretoria: University of South Africa press.
Gibney, M. (2008). International human rights law: Returning to universal principles. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Steiner, H. J., Alston, P., & Goodman, R. (2008). International human rights in context: Law, politics, morals: text and materials. Oxford [UK: Oxford University Press.
