70 Years of Human Rights in Global Health: Drawing on a Contentious Past to Secure a Hopeful Future

Authors

Lawrence O. Gostin, Georgetown University Law CenterFollow
Benjamin Mason Meier, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillFollow
Rebekah Thomas, Gender, Equity and Human Rights Team, World Health Organization
Veronica Magar, Gender, Equity and Human Rights Team, World Health Organization
Tedros A. Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-22-2018

Abstract

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on Dec 10, 1948, established a modern human rights foundation that has become a cornerstone of global health, central to public health policies, programmes, and practices. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of this seminal declaration, we trace the evolution of human rights in global health, linking the past, present, and future of health as a human right. This future remains uncertain. As contemporary challenges imperil continuing advancements, threatening both human rights protections and global health governance, the future will depend, as it has in the past, on sustained political engagement to realise human rights in global health.

Publication Citation

The Lancet, Vol. 392, Issue 10165, 2731-2735, December 22, 2018.

Scholarly Commons Citation

Gostin, Lawrence O.; Meier, Benjamin Mason; Thomas, Rebekah; Magar, Veronica; and Ghebreyesus, Tedros A., "70 Years of Human Rights in Global Health: Drawing on a Contentious Past to Secure a Hopeful Future" (2018). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. 2116.
https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/2116