Health (Right to)

Primary tabs

Ecuador - Discrimination and Right to Health Violations Found in the Case Person with Psychosocial Disability

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has issued a judgment in Guachalá Chimbó and Others vs. Ecuador, finding intersectional discrimination based on disability and class and violations of the right to...

Read more

Judgment No. 3-19-JP / 20 and accumulated

The Constitutional Court accumulated 19 cases involving women who, at the time of the events in question, were pregnant, lactating, or on maternity leave, and worked in various positions in the public sector governed by the Organic Law of Public Service (LOSEP). The Court addresses the violation of pregnant and lactating women’s rights and provides further protections by formally recognizing the right to care.

Read more

Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), Prof. Ben Twinomugisha, Rhoda Kukiriza, Inziku Valente v. Attorney General - Constitutional Petition No. 16 (Maternal Health Care)

Petitioners challenged the Ugandan Government’s failure to provide basic maternal health services in violation of (1) the right to health, (2) the right to life, and (3) the right of women, under the Constitution.

Read more

Organizations Urge the Creation of Community-Based Mental Health Care Model that Ensures the Rights of Persons with Psychosocial Disabilities

This past December, Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ), Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Comisión Colombiana de Juristas (CCJ),...

Read more

Vaishnorani Mahila Bachat Gat v. State of Maharashtra & Ors. 2019 SCC online SC 353

The action arose from an appeal of two High Court decisions that were issued in 2016. A local women’s group (Mahila Mandals) and other self-help groups challenged the validity of a tender notice issued by the state of Maharashtra that year. The tender awarded a contract to large corporations with strong political connections for the supply of nutritional food supplements to beneficiaries under the ICDS.

Read more

Sandesh Bansal v. Union of India and others (PIL) W.P. No. 9061/2008

The petitioner, Sandesh Bansal, is a health activist and member of Jan Adhikaar Manch, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) working to raise concern over the high maternal mortality rate (MMR) in Madhya Pradesh as a part of their “Save our Mothers” campaign. The case was also part of Human Rights Law Network’s (HRLN’s) national litigation strategy to address India’s high maternal mortality and morbidity rates. Petitioner alleged that the state failed to provide basic and adequate maternal healthcare.

Read more

Novartis AG v. Union of India, (2007)

This case concerns the constitutionality of Section 3(d) of the 2005 Amendment (“Amendment”) to India’s Patent Law, which was added to comply with Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and World Trade Organization’s (WTO) minimum standards for protecting intellectual property.  Section 3(d) requires that inventions based on a known substance be patentable only if they show the “enhanced efficacy” of the known substance.  Novartis, a large pharmaceutical company, submitted a patent application for its leukemia medication, Gleevec.  Novartis’ application was denied on

Read more

Decision T-406/92. Writ for the protection of constitutional rights filed by José Manuel Rodríguez Rangel v. Enrique Chartuny González, manager of the Public Works of Cartagena

The claimant filed a tutela action against the Public Works of Cartagena alleging that they put into operation an uncompleted sewer system, producing overflowing black waters and unsanitary conditions in two neighborhoods. The complaint alleged a violation of Article 88 of the Colombian constitution protecting the right to public health and asked for injunctive relief to prevent irreparable harm, as established under Article 5 of the Decree 2591.

Read more

Judgment SU-225/98

This tutela case concerned the requirement that the state provide health services to a group of children living in an impoverished area of Bogotá. Four hundred and eighteen families brought this action against the Ministry of Health and the District Secretary of Health seeking free vaccines against two strains of bacterial meningitis. The plaintiffs argued their case under Article 44 of the Colombian Constitution, which guarantees certain freedoms and protections to children, and under various treaties to which Colombia subscribed.

Read more

Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust and Anr. V. Union of India, Writ Petition (C) No. 512/1999

In August 2008, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s NACO developed an “Office Memorandum” in response to a public interest litigation (PIL), in which the Supreme Court reviewed the steps taken by NACO to combat HIV/AIDS and the services being provided to patients. The Supreme Court had issued directives, including those aimed at improving the sufficiency of centres distributing second line anti-retroviral therapy (ART).

Read more