Because of the lack of education on AIDS, discrimination, fear, panic, and lies surrounded me.
Ryan White, Child’s Rights Activist fighting against AIDS-related discrimination
The right to health
The right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, to the facilities for treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health, is recognised by the CRC. It includes not only access to healthcare services but also conditions that determine our health, including access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and housing, adequate food, healthy working and environmental conditions, and access to health-related education and information. This right is closely related the main principles of the CRC, the right to life, survival and development, as well as other human rights, particularly the right to social security, the right to rest and leisure and the right to an adequate standard of living. This relationship goes both ways: on the one hand, human rights violations can have serious health consequences, for example, suffering any form of violence. On the other hand, poor health can be an obstacle to being able to benefit properly from other rights – such as the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to education.
The children’s right “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds” includes information related to health, reproduction and sexuality (Article 13). Children and their parents should have access to education and be supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents. It is of crucial importance, because the right to health covers also freedoms, such as the right to control one’s health and body and the right to be free from non-consensual medical treatment and experiments.
Health is not just an individual concern, it is also an economic and political issue: inequality and poverty frequently lie at the root of sickness and disease, and the availability of healthcare is always politically defined. Children are entitled to special protection to ensure that they are able to access
their human rights at this crucial period of their development. Protecting children’s right to good health includes preventative care and health education, as well as protection from abuse and exploitation and access to rehabilitation services.
To what extent does discrimination or poverty affect the health of the children you work with?
Health issues for Children in Europe
Health in Europe, as measured by life expectancy at birth, is better than in most other regions of the world. However, there are significant differences according to age, gender and country, and within the same country. Most of these inequalities originate in socio-economic differences. Poorer people and those living in poorer areas have less access to health services and care (availability, affordability and quality), and tend to be in worse health and die younger than people who are better off. Other factors such as diet, physical activity, tobacco use, harmful alcohol consumption, and the provision and quality of health services, are often linked to overall economic circumstances, and play an important role in worsening conditions of health. Common health concerns for children and young people in Europe include the following.
Communicable Diseases
Children need protection from diseases of all kinds, starting with maternal and child healthcare, good nutrition and immunisation. The number of children not vaccinated against preventable disease is increasing and puts all children’s health at risk.
Non-Communicable Diseases
Diseases related to inadequate water, environmental degradation, sanitation and hygiene represent a significant health challenge in some European countries. The UN define safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right derived from the right to an adequate standard of living and is inextricably
related to the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, as well as the right to life and human dignity.
Mental health
Health is not purely a physical and medical issue. Between 10% and nearly 30% of children in Europe are estimated to have mental health related problems1. There is general agreement that “mental illness is increasingly being recognized as the most significant health concern for children and adolescents in developed countries.”2 Mental health disorders of children and adolescents seriously interfere with the way they think, feel and act. Children suffering from neglect, witnessing conflict at home, or experiencing physical or psychological violence, discrimination or bullying in school, often suffer from low self-esteem and show poor results at school.
Obesity
Among children, a 2014 study showed that on average, one in three children were overweight or obese in the WHO European region. In some parts of southern Europe, one in two children are overweight. Boys continue to be more likely to be overweight or obese than girls. Obesity carries particular dangers for children: obese children have a much greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, suffering from hypertension, having difficulty sleeping and developing psychosocial problems.
Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco
Europe has the highest rates of alcohol and tobacco use in the world3 – for both adults and children, despite restrictions on purchase under the age of 18. One fifth of young people aged 15 and over in the WHO European Region report ‘heavy episodic drinking’ – which means five or more drinks on one occasion. In the EU, one in every seven deaths in men, and one in every 13 deaths in women in the 15–64 age group was due to alcohol. Europe also has the highest prevalence of tobacco smoking among adults (28%), and some of the highest rates of tobacco use by adolescents. Exposure to smoking is directly related to severe respiratory health problems, such as asthma and reduced lung functioning. These may start in infancy and persist for someone’s entire life.
Disability and special needs
An estimated 20% of the world’s population is directly or indirectly affected by disability, including those affected as family members and caregivers. Many children with disabilities require extensive and lifelong medical treatment, as well as substantive learning support – and all children have a right to such treatment and support derived from the right to the highest attainable standard of health. However, the overall health of a disabled child requires that emotional and psychological needs are addressed, as much as physical needs. The families of disabled children have a right to services that will allow them to care for their disabled child in everyday family life. The social model of disability emphasises the importance of removing all barriers created by the social and physical environment which inhibit disabled people’s possibility to participate in society and exercise their rights. Public institutions and service providers are obliged to take these needs into account and adjust to them.
What issues impact the access of the children you work with to the right to health?
What needs to happen to ensure that they all can enjoy this fundamental human right?
