Thematic Panel Access to Health: Health inequity exacerbated by COVID-19 - what response is required to leave no one behind?

COVID-19 has exacerbated existing inequalities in access to healthcare caused by social inequalities, legal and policy barriers, harmful social norms and practices, and multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. It has had a disproportionate impact on people living in vulnerable situations and marginalised groups.

The main session will set the context and discuss the impact of COVID-19 on equal access to healthcare and the issue of equity as part of the response to COVID-19. 

Key questions: 

- What are the main drivers of health inequities? 

- What has been the impact of COVID-19? 

- Why and how should political leaders address health inequities? 

Further background information:
 

The right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health was first articulated in the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organisation (WHO), whose preamble defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. The preamble further states that ‘the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition’. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights also mentions health as part of the right to an adequate standard of living (Article 25). The right to health is also enshrined in the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

The UN treaty monitoring bodies have affirmed that the right to sexual and reproductive health is an integral part of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and that SRHR are also protected by numerous other rights, including the right to life, the right to freedom from torture and ill-treatment, the right to privacy, and the right to equality and non-discrimination. 

Beyond the international human rights obligations of states to respect, protect and fulfil the right to health, governments have also made commitments to advance SRHR and universal access to healthcare at important global conferences. 

In 1994, at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), states committed to placing human rights at the centre of development policies. The ICPD Programme of Action recognised that sexual and reproductive health is critical to women’s empowerment. States agreed that coercive laws, policies and practices that do not respect individuals’ autonomy and decision-making must be eliminated.

In 2015, at the Sustainable Development Summit, the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted, setting out global commitments to secure the health and well-being of all people and achieve gender equality. Accordingly, one of the main goals of the SDGs (goal 3) is to ‘ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’ through ambitious targets, including: 

3.3. By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases. 

3.7 By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes. 

3.8 Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all. 

3.9.B Support the research and development of vaccines and medicines for the communicable and non-communicable diseases that primarily affect developing countries, provide access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines, in accordance with the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which affirms the right of developing countries to use to the full the provisions in the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights regarding flexibilities to protect public health, and, in particular, provide access to medicines for all.