location: nan, 'Thailand 
year: 2003 source: HSRI 
title: Human rights and health 
abstract:This research reviews the notions of social concepts namely human rights and health in order to offer comparison, analysis, synthesis, integrate and bridge the link between human rights and health by applying a theoretical framework called  “a social construction of meaning” and various other social concepts.  The purpose of the review is fundamentally an attempt to understand the diverse definitions of health and human rights. The understanding of health is divided into three sections. The first notion is “individual health” which takes fragmented perspectives that aim to treat mainly the physicality.  The second notion is “public health” in which varying forces on the public health service and the improvement of the public environments that create good external conditions for health. This second notion is sometimes philosophically questioned whether it aims for good health of the majority by excluded or destroyed good health for the minority. The final notion is “social health” which is a holistic approach to health. It takes various considerations of causes and effects on health as a complex many with levels such as in the level of mode of living, in the level of economic, socio-political structure and the level of the natural environment.The notion of human right: the researcher presents six major notions 1) humanist with emphasis on the respecting of human life. 2) liberalist promote liberty and freedom. 3) universalist that see the human being are all the same. 4) egalitarianist emphasis on the equality among human being and does not accept the special privilege to particular group. 5) rationalist emphasis on reason more than emotion. 6) utilitarianist which gives important to the protection of the majority right.  However, when the human right ideal is applied in practice, it conflicts with concrete situations. For example, the conflict between the profit of the majority and the minority or the conflict in the level of philosophy and practice. The meaning of human rights is relative because it can provide possibilities of diverse interpretation in different socio-cultural contexts. Thus under the relative ambiguity of philosophy and the possibility of applying knowledge in various contexts, the process of learning about human rights takes an important role.The interrelation between the notion of health and humans right link the concept of right of health.  The application of these two concepts changes in various socio-historic contexts and in particular space and time.  In a context of high abuse of human rights, for instance in the tortured of the prisoners, the right of health would demand that the medical staff take a role to stop this human rights abuse. On the contrary, in a poor society the right of health would mainly take the issues of the right of access public health services. In the Thai context the rights to health cover a vast area of meaning. It should involve three levels of consideration. On the level of daily life it raises the issues of gender, consumers, disabled people and the Aids patients.  On a second level, it should take consideration of institutional or social structures. The research has taken the controversial issues of Mae moh, which suffer from the pollution of electric generator and lichnite industry, and the issues of the health of the immigrants. The third, the level of knowledge, the findings show clearly that the marginalization or the abuse of rights is not only influecing human beings, but also the body of knowledge, especially local knowledge.  Therefore, the understanding of right of health penetrates into issues that are more complex.In order to obtain an accurate understanding of the present world which is always on the move, we have to take a serious consideration of the constant changes. Therefore when we once examine the abuse of rights or dangers to health which take place in more complex ways, affects all levels of people, the integration of the notion of health and right takes an important role. The constructive selection of certain aspects of the health right is a means to examine the causes of temporary sufferings in order to deal with the problems proper to different social contexts.  Thus will be the way to solve the problems through more holistic sustainable and systematic approach. In addition, it aims at resolving problems in the short term and in the long run without leaving behind the weak. Therefore, in this way of proceeding we will be able to construct the powerful concept of “health rights” in order to provide means for individuals striving for the development of human capacities, to create the just society and respect for natural environment.