Health and Human Rights News
Week ending 28 February 2025
Case study on rights-based approach to health in Kenya wins inaugural HHR Best Paper prize (2024)
HHR is delighted to award its inaugural celebration of excellent research and writing to Esther Kamau and Gillian MacNaughton for their paper, The Spirit of Human Rights: Universal Health Coverage in Makueni County, Kenya. The paper met our key criteria of presenting a novel approach to demonstrating the power of the right to health to achieve health equity through law, policy, public health, or healthcare delivery.
USAID locks out staff and ends most programs
USAID staff based in Washington DC were advised on Sunday 23 February not to return to work and that they had been placed on administrative leave. Subsequent notices advised them to return to collect their belongings later in the week. The Trump administration plans to eliminate 5,800 of 6,200 multiyear USAID contract awards, for a cut of $54 billion and 4,100 of 9,100 State Department grants for a cut of $4.4 billion. The impact on the rights to health in numerous abruptly halted health programs globally places millions of lives at risk.
See also: Beatrice Were and Victoria Okumu-McCarron's Fight for Rights Viewpoint on risks of aid reliance and sudden freezes in Uganda
Uncertainty prevails with AIDS programs
UNAIDS reports that waivers have led to the resumption of select clinical services, such as HIV treatment and prevention of vertical transmission, in many countries that are highly dependent on US funding. However, the durability of this resumption is unclear with the staff layoffs.
Solutions must deliver justice in Gaza
UN High Commissioner for Human rights, Volker Türk, called for “voices of reason to prevail; for solutions that will deliver justice, and make space for compassion, healing and truth telling” now that there is a ‘fragile’ ceasefire in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. While stating there was “no justification for the horrific attacks” on 7 October 2023 by Hamas, he noted more than 48,000 people, mainly women and children, and more than 1,054 medical personnel have been killed.
Additional context: Special section on Settler Colonialism, Structural Racism, and the Palestinian Right to Health
Joseph Amon and Leonard Rubenstein: Drone Attacks on Health in 2023
No right to asylum at US-Mexico Border
Amnesty International’s briefing released this week, Lives in Limbo: Devastating Impacts of Trump’s Migration and Asylum Policies, outlines the complete gutting of the right to seek asylum by the US government at the US-Mexico border, with virtually no way for people seeking safety to go through the legal process. The report states there are currently tens of thousands of people stranded in Mexico with nowhere to go – even unaccompanied minors are stuck without a way to seek safety.
UK fails children in poverty
The UK Government Admits Failure in the Handling of the Separation of Children from Families in Poverty. In the second session of the constructive dialogue with the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in Geneva, the UK Government acknowledged that the child protection services in England are not fit for purpose.
See also: Marina Plesons et al who analyse characteristics of children seeking asylum and observe that the number of children migrating alone to the US is on the increase
Philippines grilled over killings…
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its review of the Philippine’s report observed there had been 305 killings of human rights defenders in the Philippines since the last review four years ago and states the country ranked third globally for killings of human rights defenders. The review asked what measures were in place to ensure that those responsible for these crimes were prosecuted and sanctioned. It also noted indigenous peoples continued to face violations of their economic, social and cultural rights through the destruction of ancestral lands by extractive industries.
… and its war on drugs
The Philippines was also asked about plans to decriminalise drugs for personal use and implement alternatives to imprisonment for drug users, to end the “war on drugs” and to provide reparations to victims. The government delegation explained the country was adopting a humanitarian approach to drug use and rehabilitation and many drug users were treated in communities rather than in rehabilitation centres. Persons who participated in rehabilitation programmes were removed from criminal offender lists.
See: Gideon Lasco and Lee Edson Yarcia, The Politics of Drug Rehabilitation in the Philippines
A rare celebration of success in public healthcare
The People’s Health movement reports that private hospitals continue to close as Kerala’s public healthcare system is on the rise.
Optimism in WHO for hopeful futures
The World Health Organziation has announced that the theme of World Health Day 2025 will be ‘Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures’. April 7th 2025 will mark the start of a year-long spotlight on women and newborn health worldwide. Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at WHO said, “As rollbacks to humanitarian assistance jeopardize a critical lifeline for millions, it will also be an opportunity to step up support and collaboration for global health – and deliver hope to those in urgent need of lifesaving care.”
Polio vaccination enters third round in Gaza
In response to a severe ongoing outbreak of polio in the Gaza Strip, a third vaccination round has been conducted this month (on the heels of two rounds conducted in September and October last year), this time administering the vaccine to over half a million children under 10.
See also: Nicole B. Alkhouri and Nadia N. Abuelezam Structural Context and Human Rights: Vaccinating Children in Gaza against Polio