The right to health is the economic, social and cultural right to the highest attainable standard of health. It is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 states that "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health, and wellbeing of himself and his family...". The Preamble to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) constitution also declares that it is one of the fundamental rights of every human being to enjoy "the highest attainable standard of health". Inherent in the right to health is the right to the underlying conditions of health as well as medical care. Franklin D. Roosevelt advocated a right to medical care in his 1944 proposal for a Second Bill of Rights.[1]
The United Nations further defined the right to health in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1966. The Covenant guarantees the "right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health", and calls for the "provision for the reductions of . . . infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child; the improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene; the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational, and other diseases; and the creation of conditions which could assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness."
In 2000, the United Nations issued the General Comment No.14 "Right to Health" which expands upon the original ideas from 1966 by exploring the historical context of this right, further defining the meaning of an adequate health care system, detailing obligations of states and NGO’s, defining violations, and discussing the basics of implementation.