Health As A Human Right - Term Paper Example

Health As A Human Right Health is the most fundamental human right because it is vital to the existence of mankind on the face of Earth. Without health, existence is not possible, and accordingly all other rights are proved useless. “[R]ecognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, n.d.). The definition of health in terms of human rights is supported by live experiences.

Evidence for health as a human right can be retrieved from the way nature works. When the sun shines, it shines as brightly in the posh areas as it does in backward areas. When the flowers blossom, they are as fragrant in the drawing room of a multi-billionare’s mansion as it does in the pot placed in the window sill of a poor man’s hut. Vegetables and fruits grow just as nicely in the fruit gardens of a king as they do in the backyard of a carpenter. When nature does not distinguish between humans on the basis of their financial status, why should health be considered a virtue of the elite?

The environment in which we live is the most fundamental determinant of the health we enjoy. The extent of rights given to an individual decides the community in which he/she would live, and the facilities he/she would have access to. Unfortunately, modern society has developed in such a way that rich people are exposed to more facilities as compared to the poor people. Rich people get treatments in better technologically equipped hospitals which the poor can not afford. Rich people can purchase mineral water bottles for every day use while the poor have to resort to the unfiltered tap water.

Rich people take fresh meals while there is a considerable population of the poor people that pick up rotten tomatoes and potatoes discarded by the shopkeepers and thrown in the bins. This has created a fairly noticeable division between the health status of the rich and the poor, and put them on either extreme of the scale of health. Human rights and health should be defined by social work because it can reduce the financial gap between the rich and the poor and bring whole society on one platform.

Social work that includes but is not limited to charity work, construction of free hospitals and providing the poor people access to hygienic food should be promoted to ensure the spread of health and safety in the society. To achieve this, every individual needs to work on individual level and play his/her respective role. If every individual gave just $1 in charity, billions of dollars will be collected within a minute which can then be used for the construction of facilities for the poor. In the contemporary materialistic world, health has become more of a valuable possession, which can be purchased.

Poor people, with insufficient financial resources can not manage to take measures to ensure good health unlike the rich people. Thus, health of the poor people can be improved through more social work. References: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (n.d.). Preamble. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/.