Issue

Increasing evidence confirms that the growth of private actors in the health sector may contribute to violations of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. The impact is felt particularly for those too poor to pay for services, who belong to marginalised groups, or without the capacity to choose adequate services. This is the case where private actors are not adequately monitored and regulated by the State. Privatisation also has systemic implications for how healthcare services are organised and might undermine the right to health for all. States have an obligation to ensure the realisation of the right to health whether public or private actors are involved in the delivery of health care.

Our work focuses on understanding and assessing the human rights impact of private actors in health systems and, where needed, advocating for further development to the framework to ensure effective regulation or change of policies to ensure quality public health services. We develop empirical research on the impacts of healthcare commercialisation on the enjoyment of the right to health. We advocate for the centrality of strong, high-quality public healthcare systems to realise the right to health as well as knowledge sharing and open science to realise universal access to medicines.

Our approach

We work with various civil society partners to:

• deepen knowledge and awareness on the human rights legal framework applicable to private sector involvement in health systems;

• assess and monitor the human rights impacts of healthcare commercialisation and private actors’ involvement in health systems;

• advocate for States to assess, monitor and regulate private actors in health systems in line with their human rights obligations;

• hold States accountable for their human rights obligations in the context of private actors in health systems.

Our work so far has focused on unpacking the human rights framework applicable to the involvement of private actors in health, building on our experience in education. We are currently developing an empirical portfolio of case studies documenting the impact of healthcare commercialisation on the right to health during COVID-19 all over he world.

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