Delivering Health Care within Prisons and Young Offenders Institutes?

What is the right to health?

Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) defines the right to health as “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”.

While the right to health includes the right to health care, it goes beyond health care to encompass the underlying determinants of health, such as safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and access to health-related information. The right includes freedoms, such as the right to be free from discrimination and involuntary medical treatment. It also includes entitlements, such as the right to essential primary health care. The right has numerous elements, including child health, maternal health and access to essential drugs. Like other human rights, it has a particular concern for the disadvantaged, the vulnerable and those living in poverty. The right requires an effective, inclusive health system of good quality.