Reducing health inequalities; Why we need to advocate for human rights in Africa.
By Abanobi Nkachukwu .N
According to the United Nations Organization, ‘‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
Through the establishment of international standards for health justice, these human rights were transformed from rhetorical to actionable sentences (Gostin et al), and sufficient legal obligations enacted as seen in international and public health laws.
Inequalities in public health may be seen at all levels of healthcare in Africa, and basically everybody is at risk of being marginalized, more so if classified under these categories:
- The disabled;
- Women, girls and also young men;
- The poorest poor and economically disadvantaged.
Access to quality healthcare is a basic human need, and in today’s developing Africa, problems such as quality of health care centers, affordable healthcare in rural and urban settings may be questionable.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic brought to the limelight acts of health inequality (Schiariti, 2020), with indications of governments in Africa and beyond violating human rights (Gostin et al) as observed in areas like:
- Vaccine distribution;
- Logistics disbursement and management;
- Personnel recruitment and training;
- Facility development and management.
Therefore an important reason why we should raise awareness, advocating for equity in accessing services is ensure that all people are treated equally, and find solutions to exsiting forms of health discrimination.
What other forms of health discrimination have you observed during this pandemic ? How do you think they can be solved?