Human rights: Health as fundamental right for every person
Human rights: Health as fundamental right requiring equality and dignity
Fatima Hassan (Cape Town, South Africa) remembers the day her mother died. Diabetic, hypertensive, desperate for treatment. But the clinic closest to their township neighborhood turned her away. “Wrong district,” they said. “Not our responsibility.” They sent her mother across the city to another facility. She collapsed on the bus. By the time she reached the hospital, it was too late.
“My mother died because of bureaucracy. She died because the healthcare system treated her like she didn’t matter. She died because her rights meant nothing to the officials who turned her away,” Fatima recalled, her voice breaking even fifteen years later. “She had diabetes—a manageable condition. She needed insulin, blood pressure medication, routine monitoring. Instead, she got indifference, discrimination, and death.”
That devastating loss transformed Fatima into one of South Africa’s most passionate health rights advocates. Today, she leads a legal organization challenging healthcare discrimination, holding governments accountable, fighting for the principle that health is a fundamental human right—not a privilege for those who can afford it or live in the right neighborhoods.
“When we talk about health as a human right, we’re not talking about abstract concepts. We’re talking about my mother. We’re talking about millions of people worldwide who are denied care because of who they are, where they live, how much money they earn, what color their skin is, who they love, or which god they worship. Every person denied healthcare is a human rights violation. Every preventable death is a failure of justice,” Fatima emphasized.
According to WHO, Health is a fundamental right of every human being. Health as a human right is recognized in the WHO Constitution (1948), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and many international and regional human rights treaties. All WHO Member States have ratified at least one treaty that recognizes the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
For more on health equity, see our articles on social determinants of health and universal health coverage at ObserverVoice.com. WHO provides comprehensive fact sheet on Human rights and health.
Legal Obligations and Immediate Requirements
This means that countries have legal obligations, while acknowledging that time and resources are required to fully achieve them. Some immediate obligations for countries include the guarantees of non-discrimination and equal treatment in health. The right to health includes entitlements, such as the right to control one’s health, informed consent, bodily integrity, and participation in health-related decision-making. It also includes freedoms, like freedom from torture, ill-treatment and harmful practices.
The right to health is closely related to and dependent on the realization of other human rights, including the rights to life, food, housing, work, education, privacy, access to information, freedom from torture and the freedoms of association, assembly and movement. It includes both nondiscriminatory access to quality, timely and appropriate health services and systems and to the underlying determinants of health.
WHO provides guidelines on Reviewing national health programmes to leave no one behind, UNSDG: Leaving no one behind, and Joint United Nations statement on ending discrimination in health care settings.
Related topics include Quality of care, Social determinants of health, Universal health coverage, Gender and health, Global health ethics, and Health Laws. For more on health justice, see our article on health equity initiatives at ObserverVoice.com.
Human Rights-Based Approach
A human rights-based approach (HRBA) aims to support sustainable development by addressing inequalities, discriminatory practices and unjust power relations that are often at the core of unequal outcomes. HRBA focuses on the groups of people who are most marginalized and discriminated against. The United Nations common understanding of a HRBA serves as a guiding framework. It has the following elements.
Goal: All programmes, policies and technical assistance should further the realization of the right to health and other health-related human rights.
Process: Human rights standards and principles – such as participation, accountability, equality and non-discrimination – are integrated into all stages of the health programming cycle, including assessment, priority setting, planning and design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation.
Outcome: Institutions, processes and systems need to ensure that people are empowered to understand and claim their health-related rights. States are the primary duty bearers and must be supported to deliver on their human rights obligations. Non-State actors, like the private sector and non-governmental organizations, also have human rights obligations. Policy makers and parliamentarians must use their regulatory powers to ensure the respect, protection and fulfilment of health-related rights, health and safety standards and labour rights, among others.
WHO’s Comprehensive Support
WHO supports country efforts to integrate human rights into health systems, programmes and policies. To achieve this, WHO provides guidance on human rights in the context of health issues, such as HIV, maternal and child health, mental health and others. WHO also provides support to countries to strengthen national health systems to ensure that services are universally available, accessible, acceptable and of high quality. WHO’s political leadership on the right to health focuses on supporting countries to review laws, policies and practices to ensure they support the right to health.
WHO’s human rights work aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To meet the SDGs, WHO produces and disseminates tools and guidance to identify who is being left behind and why, as well as guidance on social participation to ensure accountability. WHO also supports countries to use international and regional human rights accountability mechanisms to advance health related rights. WHO’s Gender, Equity and Human Rights team and Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research coordinate global efforts.
Recent Publications and Initiatives
September 2025 WHO published Report of the 11th Meeting of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition. May 2025 WHO published Report of the tenth meeting of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts. December 2024 WHO published Strengthening legal and regulatory frameworks for maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response. October 2024 WHO published Mental health of children and young people: service guidance and Frequently asked questions on sexual and gender diversity, health and human rights.
June 2025 WHO emphasized Helping people live well at all ages. May 2025 WHO announced Indigenous leadership and views must shape new Global Health Action Plan. June 2024 WHO provided Update on the Guideline Development Group on the health of trans and gender diverse people.
WHO activities include Addressing health inequities among people living in rural and remote areas, Improving LGBTIQ+ health and well-being with consideration for SOGIESC, Reviewing national health programmes to leave no one behind, Enabling diverse voices and meaningful engagement of older people, and Promoting a fair and equitable response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fatima’s legal victories have transformed South Africa’s healthcare landscape. Her organization successfully challenged district-based restrictions, establishing legal precedent that emergency care cannot be denied based on administrative boundaries. They’ve won cases forcing governments to provide essential medications. They’ve secured compensation for families denied treatment.
“But legal victories aren’t enough. We need cultural transformation. Healthcare workers must understand that providing care isn’t charity—it’s fulfilling a fundamental human right. Governments must understand that health budgets aren’t discretionary spending—they’re human rights obligations. Society must understand that healthcare discrimination isn’t just unfortunate—it’s a violation of human dignity,” Fatima explained.
“The right to health means my mother should have received insulin that day. It means no person should be turned away from care because of bureaucracy. It means healthcare must be available, accessible, acceptable, and of good quality for everyone—regardless of race, class, geography, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other characteristic. These aren’t aspirations—they’re legally binding obligations that every WHO Member State has ratified,” Fatima emphasized.
“WHO’s leadership on the right to health provides the framework, the tools, the guidance that countries need to translate legal obligations into lived reality. But ultimately, it requires political will, adequate resources, and societies that value human dignity over profit. My mother’s death taught me that health is not a commodity to be bought and sold—it’s a human right to be protected and realized. Until every person can access healthcare with dignity and without discrimination, our work continues. Justice delayed is justice denied—and for millions denied healthcare, justice remains devastatingly delayed.”
For more information, visit WHO’s human rights topic page or explore related content at ObserverVoice.com.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Health is fundamental right of every human being. Health as human right is recognized in WHO Constitution (1948), Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and many international and regional human rights treaties. All WHO Member States have ratified at least one treaty that recognizes right to highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. This means that countries have legal obligations, while acknowledging that time and resources are required to fully achieve them. Some immediate obligations for countries include guarantees of non-discrimination and equal treatment in health. Right to health includes entitlements, such as right to control one’s health, informed consent, bodily integrity, and participation in health-related decision-making. It also includes freedoms, like freedom from torture, ill-treatment and harmful practices. Right to health is closely related to and dependent on realization of other human rights, including rights to life, food, housing, work, education, privacy, access to information, freedom from torture and freedoms of association, assembly and movement. WHO fact sheet: Human rights and health. Related: Quality of care, Social determinants of health.
Human rights-based approach (HRBA) aims to support sustainable development by addressing inequalities, discriminatory practices and unjust power relations that are often at core of unequal outcomes. HRBA focuses on groups of people who are most marginalized and discriminated against. United Nations common understanding of HRBA serves as guiding framework. Goal: All programmes, policies and technical assistance should further realization of right to health and other health-related human rights. Process: Human rights standards and principles – such as participation, accountability, equality and non-discrimination – are integrated into all stages of health programming cycle, including assessment, priority setting, planning and design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. Outcome: Institutions, processes and systems need to ensure that people are empowered to understand and claim their health-related rights. States are primary duty bearers and must be supported to deliver on their human rights obligations. WHO guidelines: Reviewing national health programmes to leave no one behind, UNSDG: Leaving no one behind. Related: Universal health coverage, Gender and health.
WHO supports country efforts to integrate human rights into health systems, programmes and policies. WHO provides guidance on human rights in context of health issues, such as HIV, maternal and child health, mental health and others. WHO also provides support to countries to strengthen national health systems to ensure that services are universally available, accessible, acceptable and of high quality. WHO’s political leadership on right to health focuses on supporting countries to review laws, policies and practices to ensure they support right to health. WHO’s human rights work aligns with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To meet SDGs, WHO produces and disseminates tools and guidance to identify who is being left behind and why, as well as guidance on social participation to ensure accountability. WHO also supports countries to use international and regional human rights accountability mechanisms to advance health related rights. WHO’s Gender, Equity and Human Rights team and Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research coordinate efforts. WHO provides Joint UN statement on ending discrimination in health care settings. Related: Global health ethics, Health Laws.
September 2025 WHO published Report of 11th Meeting of WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition. May 2025 WHO published Report of tenth meeting of WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts. December 2024 WHO published Strengthening legal and regulatory frameworks for maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response. October 2024 WHO published Mental health of children and young people: service guidance and FAQ on sexual and gender diversity, health and human rights. June 2025 WHO emphasized Helping people live well at all ages. May 2025 WHO announced Indigenous leadership must shape new Global Health Action Plan. June 2024 WHO provided Update on Guideline Development Group on health of trans and gender diverse people.
WHO activities include Addressing health inequities among people living in rural and remote areas, Improving LGBTIQ+ health and well-being with consideration for SOGIESC, Reviewing national health programmes to leave no one behind, Enabling diverse voices and meaningful engagement of older people, Promoting fair and equitable response to COVID-19 pandemic. Right to health includes both nondiscriminatory access to quality, timely and appropriate health services and systems and to underlying determinants of health. HRBA focuses on groups of people who are most marginalized and discriminated against. Non-State actors, like private sector and non-governmental organizations, also have human rights obligations. Policy makers and parliamentarians must use their regulatory powers to ensure respect, protection and fulfilment of health-related rights, health and safety standards and labour rights. WHO’s Gender, Equity and Human Rights team coordinates global efforts. WHO featured Bolivia strengthens social participation in health for indigenous population.
- WHO Human Rights Topic Page
- WHO Fact Sheet on Human Rights and Health
- WHO Gender, Equity and Human Rights Team
- Reviewing National Health Programmes to Leave No One Behind
- UN Statement on Ending Discrimination in Health Care
Disclaimer: This article is an adaptation of publicly available information from WHO’s Human rights
health topic page (WHO, Geneva. Licence: CC BYNC-SA 3.0 IGO). WHO is not responsible for the
content or accuracy of this adaptation. This content is for informational and educational purposes
only and does not constitute medical advice. ObserverVoice.com is a news and information platform
— not a healthcare provider.
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