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A Joint Declaration on the Importance of Collaboration, Open Trade, and Innovation in Tackling COVID-19 

As member states of the World Health Organization gather today in Geneva for the World Health Assembly, a global coalition of 31 think tanks today calls on governments to commit to open trade, collaboration and innovation in the fight against Covid-19.  Read

Is Healthcare A “Human Right?”

January 02, 2010

Turning healthcare into an individual enforceable human right creates all kinds of legal complexities, undermines the rule of law and stifles political pluralism. Neither is there any evidence that “the right to health” has actually improved healthcare anywhere in the world – in some cases it has undermined it.


The idea that governments should be legally obliged to provide healthcare for its citizens is now an apparently uncontroversial idea. The “right to health” forms the basis of policy for the UN, many international NGOs and national development agencies, and exists in the constitutions of many countries.
However, the political and legal ascendance of the “right to health” is unwarranted and counterproductive, according to this new International Policy Network Report by Danish human rights scholar Jacob Mchangama.
Turning healthcare into an individual enforceable human right creates all kinds of legal complexities, undermines the rule of law and stifles political pluralism. Neither is there any evidence that “the right to health” has actually improved healthcare anywhere in the world – in some cases it has undermined it.
In reality, the rights which are really fundamental to improved healthcare are those which underpin prosperity and economic development – such as the right to own and exchange property. Such rights are denied to millions, yet are vital for creating the prosperity needed to pay for good healthcare.

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