Non-communicable diseases and human rights: Global synergies, gaps and opportunities

ABSTRACT

The incorporation of human rights in health policy and programmes is known to strengthen responses to health problems and help address disparities created or exacerbated by illness yet this remains underexplored in relation to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Aiming to understand existing synergies and how they might be further strengthened, we assessed the extent to which human rights are considered in global NCD policies and strategies and the degree of attention given to NCDs by select United Nations human rights mechanisms. Across global NCD policies and strategies, rhetorical assertions regarding human rights appear more often than actionable statements, thus limiting their implementation and impact. Although no human rights treaty explicitly mentions NCDs, some human rights monitoring mechanisms have been paying increasing attention to NCDs. This provides important avenues for promoting the incorporation of human rights norms and standards into NCD responses as well as for accountability. Linking NCDs and human rights at the global level is critical for encouraging national-level action to promote better outcomes relating to both health and human rights. The post-2015 development agenda constitutes a key entry point for highlighting these synergies and strengthening opportunities for health and rights action at global, national and local levels.

KEY WORDS:

• Non-communicable diseases
• human rights
• policy
• accountability
• global

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. A General Comment is a treaty body's interpretation of the content of human rights provisions, including thematic issues. For further information, see: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/Pages/TBGeneralComments.aspx.

2. In international human rights law, the obligation to protect a right refers to the legal obligation of states to prevent other parties from interfering with the enjoyment of rights.

3. See, for example, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Article 11, Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 27.

4. Reporting guidelines are issued by the treaty monitoring bodies to guide states on the information that should be included in their national reports.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part through an unrestricted grant from the Merck Company Foundation. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Merck Company Foundation.