Health Justice in the Context of Health and Human Rights

ABSTRACT

The inextricable link between the promotion and protection of both health and human rights comes to the fore in the lack of attention to structural determinants in pandemic responses. By requiring that rather than treating everyone the same, additional efforts be made to reach and elevate the most marginalized and discriminated against, human rights incorporate the notion of redistributive justice, expressed by Alang and Blackstock as the need to "ensure access to and redistribution of resources." Linking to the legal basis of the health and human rights framework, the authors also call for the "introduction of mandates and enforcement of regulations that redistribute power"' and for "legislation that guarantees support for people with long-haul COVID-19." The strong history of community organizing and grassroots activism among the human rights community might indeed be leveraged to push for government action and accountability at the local, state, and national levels.