Human and health rights in relation to Sustainable

Development Goal 3 in Nigeria

by
OLADEJO KOREDE SAHEED

R2106D12340835

INTERNATIONAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT

First assessment point

28830

14TH OF JAN, 2022

 SDG3 Currently in Nigeria
• The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development 30 years ago as
"development that meets the requirements of current generations without
jeopardizing future generations' ability to satisfy their own needs.“ (UN, 1987)
• There are 17 sustainable development goals, we will be discussing only the no 3 of
the SDGs that borders on health and its relationship with human/health rights
• The lack of public understanding and inadequate sensitization of the public about
the SDGs, what they involve, and how their implementation affects the average
citizen's quality of life is a serious concern in Nigeria.
• Nigeria's situation is not all doom and gloom, as difficult as it may appear. SDG 3
can be achieved, but only with seriousness and dedication. To resolve the riddle
that surrounds the country's healthcare system, the federal government must work
in concert with state and local governments.
Aims and Objectives
• At the end of the writeup, we would have:
• Examine and discuss human and health rights in respect to Sustainable
Development Goal3 (SDG3).
• Evaluate national and local responses to Universal Health Coverage critically.
• Evaluate the barriers and facilitators to achieving SDG3 in Nigeria
 Definition of Human Right
• Human rights are rights that all people have, regardless of their race,
gender, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or other status.
• The right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture,
freedom of expression and speech, the right to employment and
education, and many others are all protected by human rights. These
rights are available to everyone, without exception. (Morris, 2002)
• The establishment of a comprehensive body of human rights law—a
global and internationally protected code to which all states can
subscribe and all people aspire—is one of the United Nation's
greatest achievements.
 Human Right(Continues)
• United Nations has been able to identify various components of
human rights. These include:
• Civil,
• Cultural,
• Economic,
• Political, and
• Social rights,
• It has also established institutions to promote and preserve these
rights, as well as to help nations in fulfilling their obligations. (Kolp,
2010)
 Health Rights in Human Rights
• The right to the highest possible health is one of every human being's fundamental
rights, regardless of ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, or economic or social
circumstances.
• The right to health for all people entails ensuring that everyone has access to the
health services they require, when and where they require them, without financial
hardship.
• Other fundamental human rights, such as access to safe drinking water and
sanitation, the right to food, adequate housing, education, and safe working
conditions, all play a role in good health.
• The right to health also includes the right to self-control over one's health and
body, as well as access to proper information and services free of violence and
discrimination.(Audrey, 2015)
Sustainable Development Goal 3
 Targets of SDG3
• 3.1 Reduce global maternal mortality to fewer than 70 per 100,000 live births by
2030.
• 3.2 By 2030, all nations should seek to reduce neonatal mortality to at least 12 per
1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least LESS THAN 25 per 1,000 live births,
putting an end to unnecessary deaths of newborns and children under the age of five.
• 3.3 End AIDS, TB, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases epidemics by 2030, and
tackle hepatitis, water-borne infections, and other infectious diseases.
• 3.4 Reduce premature mortality from noncommunicable illnesses by one-third by
2030 through prevention and treatment, while also promoting mental health and
well-being.
• 3.5 Improve the prevention and treatment of substance misuse, including narcotic
drug abuse and other dangerous substances. (The SDG in Action)
 Targets of SDG3 (continues)
• 3.6 Reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by road traffic
accidents in the world by half by 2020.
• 3.7 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services,
including family planning, information, and education, by 2030, as well as the
integration of reproductive health into national plans and programs.
• 3.8 Achieve universal health coverage for all people, including financial risk
protection, access to high-quality essential health-care services, and safe,
effective, high-quality, and cheap necessary medications and vaccinations.
• 3.9 By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and diseases caused
by hazardous substances, as well as pollution and contamination of the air,
water, and soil. (The SDG in Action)
 Human/Health right in relation to ending
HIV/AIDS, and other conditions in target 3
• Human rights and health can be understood as linked in three ways,
according to Mark et. al, (2005):
• Impact of Human rights violation on health. Denial of correct information on
HIV/AIDS, as well as knowledge about contraception and HIV/AIDS prevention
tools like condoms, is an example of a human rights violation with major
health consequences. The term "nonfulfillment" refers to the failure to
perform or comply with a human rights commitment.
• Incessant health worker strike is also another aspect of violation of citizens
right to have access to hospitals. The healthcare workers' strike makes it
difficult for new cases of HIV to be identified on time before getting to AIDS.
• Death is unavoidable without access to inexpensive healthcare services for
Hepatitis, Tuberculosis and Malaria. (WHO, 2016)
 Human/Health right in relation to ending
HIV/AIDS, and other conditions in target 3
• The impact of health policies and programs on human rights
• This connection of SDG3 and human rights can take several forms
• Public health policies and programs are designed to improve people's health; yet, in
occasions when the service providers are limited, then determining which health issues to
prioritize comes to play, states and organizations may fail to notice and address issues that
disproportionately affect women or minority groups violating their right to equality.
• States may fail to take steps to ensure that the right to privacy is respected and that health-
care information is kept confidential. However, I have noticed majorities of Nigerian
government hospitals are doing there best with respect to confidentiality of patients with
HIV/AIDS. Many a time when discussing the patient on ward rounds, they do code the
condition as XYZ.
• States have the authority to impose restrictions on citizens' rights in the name of preserving
the public's health from pandemic disease. Many US court rulings have affirmed the
government's ability to place a person with active tuberculosis under quarantine. ( Mark et.
al, (2005)
Human/Health right in relation to ending
HIV/AIDS, and other conditions in target 3
• The interplay between the enjoyment of rights and the creation of
conditions that promote health
• When you look at the underlying causes of health and happiness, you'll notice
that many of them are human rights violations.
• Social and economic position is the most serious underlying condition. Poor
health has been connected to lower socioeconomic standing on numerous
occasions. When government fails to provide basic water supply as
fundamental right of their citizen, there is tendency of rise in water born
diseases which will further make the realization of 2030 goals a mirage.
• Discrimination based on race and gender is another underlying issue that can
have a harmful impact on one's health. (Mark et. al, 2005)
Human/Health right in relation to ending
HIV/AIDS, and other conditions in target 3
• EXAMPLE: Married women are catching HIV at alarmingly high rates all
around the world, particularly in developing countries.
• Despite having access to HIV knowledge and condoms, they are unable to
protect themselves due to physical hurdles to saying no to sex, negotiating
condom use, or influencing their husbands' sexual practices.
• Women's heightened HIV vulnerability is now related to poverty and low
socioeconomic standing, which is tied to particular and explicit decisions in
how society and law are organized along gender, race, and class lines.
• For example, regulations that restrict or discriminate against women's ability
to possess or control money, property, and inheritance, as well as rules that
obstruct their education, serve to subordinate women to their sexual partners
and unable to control safer sexual practices. (Mark et. al, 2005)
Human/Health right in relation to ending
HIV/AIDS, and other conditions in target 3
• Human rights violations not only contribute to and exacerbate poor
health, but for many people, including people with disabilities,
indigenous peoples, HIV-positive women, sex workers, drug users,
transgender and intersex people, the health-care setting poses a risk of
increased exposure to human rights violations, such as coercive or
forced treatment and procedures.
• Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights outlines four
important aspects of assessing the right to health: availability,
accessibility (including non-discrimination and affordability),
acceptability, and quality (also known as the AAAQ framework).
(Olumese, 2019)
Key Human/Health rights in Targets 3.3
• HIV/AIDS
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
(ADA) protects HIV/AIDS patients against discrimination as a result of their health status.
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), protects the privacy of any
patients (HIV/AIDS Inclusive) health information (Non discrimination in Health program, 2016)
• Tuberculosis
• Declaration of the Rights of people living with Tuberculosis identify about 22 humans rights to be
enjoyed by people living with tuberculosis among which includes right to information, housing and
participation among others (Tbpeople, 2019)
• Malaria
• Article 25.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms: “Everyone has the right to a standard of
living adequate for the health of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing (Malaria is
transmitted by mosquito that thrives in unclean environment ) and medical care and necessary social
services”. (Robin and Posor 2018)
 Summary
• Sustainable development goal is achievable only is human/health
right of individuals are not violated.
• Violation of human/health right will not make the global communities
achieve its goals come 2030.
• It’s a collective effort, while states are involved in formulation of
enabling laws on health equalities, we as individual must play our
roles knowing fully well that all humans are equal whether or not they
are presenting with communicable diseases or not as the focus of the
target 3.3 of SDG
 References
•Audrey, C. (2015): The Foundations of a Human Right to Health: Human Rights and Bioethics in Dialogue Health and Human Rights 17/1
Morris, S.M. (2002): Development and human rights at the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank , University of Denver.

•Kolp, F.A. (2010): The right to life with dignity: Economic and social rights respect in the world , University of California, Berkeley.

•Marks, Jonathan H,M.A., B.C.L. (2005): Perspectives On Health And Human Rights, The New England journal of
•medicine, vol. 353, no. 26, pp. 2826

•Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities (2016), , Federal Information & News Dispatch, LLC, Washington.

•Olumese, O. (2019): Inhibitions to the Enforcement of Economic and Social Rights in the UK and Nigeria: A Study of Two Worlds , Nottingham Trent
•University (United Kingdom).

•Rubin, R. & Ponsor, A. (2018) Affordable Housing and Resident Health, Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, vol. 27,
•no. 2, pp. 263-317.

•TBpeople 2019: Declaration of the right of people affected by Tuberculosis https://www.stoptb.org Accessed 2022-01-12

•The SDG in Action UNDP https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals.  Accessed2022-01-12

•World Health Organization (2016). Accelerating progress on HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis and neglected tropical diseases . Geneva: WHO Press;
•2016. p. 1-26