Health & Human Rights Conference - Call for Abstracts
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Lessons Learned from Rights Based Approaches to Health
14-16 April, 2005
Emory University Conference Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Website: http://humanrights.emory.edu
The Institute of Human Rights of Emory University, in collabora-
tion with the World Health Organization (WHO), CARE USA, the
Carter Center human rights office, the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), and Doctors for Global Health,
proudly announce an international conference on health and human
rights. Titled, Lessons Learned from Rights Based Approaches to
Health, the conference will explore evidence-based relationships
between health and human rights. Featured speakers include for-
mer U.S. President Jimmy Carter and United Nations Special Rap-
porteur on the Right to Health Paul Hunt, along with other lead-
ers in the fields of health and human rights.
Conference Background
The highest attainable standard of health is one of the funda-
mental rights of every human being, incorporated in Article 12
in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights. Poverty, inequity, civil conflict, discrimination and
violence are all factors in denial of the basic rights of indi-
viduals and groups - and also constitute significant barriers to
their achievement of health and well-being. Scholars and practi-
tioners in the growing field of health and human rights recog-
nize three main areas of theory and practice which, when applied
to policy and programs in the field, can result in "advancing
human well-being beyond what could be achieved through an iso-
lated health or human rights-based approach."[1][1]
These three major linkages between health and human rights are:
(a) the impact, both positive and negative, of public health
policies and practice on human rights, (b) the recognition and
assessment of the impact of human rights violations on health
and well-being, and (c) the proposition that the promotion and
protection of health is fundamentally linked to the promotion
and protection of human rights.[2] Abstracts about other ex-
plicit linkages between health and human rights are encouraged
as well.
In embracing a rights-based approach to development programming,
conference partner organizations are committed to using theo-
retical frameworks and practical experiences from the health and
human rights field to strengthen the effectiveness of our own
health interventions. The host organizations' portfolio of pro-
grams includes interventions in social determinants of health,
HIV/AIDS, economic development and globalization, children's
health, reproductive health, mental health, infectious disease,
violence, and refugee and internally displaced populations in
more than 60 countries throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America,
Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. In taking a rights-based
approach to design and implementation of programs, sponsoring
and participating organizations and individuals have the poten-
tial to make a substantive contribution to the growing body of
practical work in rights-based approaches to health.
In order to advance the dialogue among public health and human
rights practitioners, activists and scholars, a group of At-
lanta-based organizations have joined together to organize and
sponsor the International Conference on Health and Human Rights.
Along with the sponsor and co-sponsors of the conference, the
François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at
Harvard University and the Health and Human Rights Strategy Unit
within the Office of the Director of the World Health Organiza-
tion (WHO) in Geneva have indicated their support and enthusiasm
for the conference.
Goals
The conference will focus on examples of successful and promis-
ing rights-based health programming, research, and advocacy.
Conference plenary, panel and roundtable sessions will emphasize
linkages between human rights theory and health practice. Spe-
cific conference goals include:
* Sharing evidence-based models of rights based approaches to
health, with a special emphasis on case studies and field exam-
ples
* Building awareness on and capacity for rights based approaches
to health programming
* Facilitating networking and collaborating opportunities among
professionals
* Advancing rights based health agendas from basic awareness to
evidence-based practice
Participants
The primary audience for the conference will include public
health and development professionals who have, at minimum, a ba-
sic understanding of relationships between health and human
rights. The conference proceedings will benefit middle and sen-
ior level program managers, as well as community level practi-
tioners, from the public, non-governmental and private sectors.
Call for Abstracts
Conference cosponsors are pleased to invite individuals to sub-
mit abstracts within the conference theme of Lessons Learned
from Rights Based Approaches to Health. Each proposal must ex-
plicitly outline its relevance to health, to human rights, and
to the interrelationship between the topics. Although evidence-
based lessons learned (i.e. case studies and field examples) are
of particular interest to the selection committee, a diverse ar-
ray of abstracts will be accepted for presentation. Examples of
acceptable abstracts include research and program frameworks,
assessment strategies, methodologies, curricula and evaluation
programs.
Conference Topics
The conference panels will be organized around the following
health topics. When submitting your abstract proposal, please
specify which of the following topics it fits within:
*Children's Health
* Conflict & War
* Economic Development & Globalization
* Education
* HIV/AIDS
* Humanitarian Aid
* Infectious Disease
* Mental Health
* Nutrition
Other
* Poverty & Other Social Determinants of Health
* Racism & Other Systems of Injustice
* Refugee & Internally Displaced Populations
* Reparations for Human Rights Abuses
* Sexual & Gender Minorities
* Sexual & Reproductive Health
* Violence
* Water & Sanitation
--
Sarah Raskin, MPH
mailto:cuv7@cdc.gov