Healthcare services, traditionally provided by the government in a welfare state, have become a tradable commodity in the era of globalisation. Indeed, globalisation has led to the creation of a new international healthcare market with increased participation of the private sector, assisted with enhanced mobility of health professionals, service providers and patients across borders. Soon after its inception, the 1995 General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) has come under fire from critics, especially for its broad scope and inclusion of basic services like healthcare, water or education that fulfil social objectives. In establishing a multilateral legal framework, GATS mandates progressive liberalisation of trade in services among the WTO members through successive rounds of negotiations. Since GATS applies to the measures by WTO Members affecting trade in services (whether taken at central, regional or local government level), inclusion of health services therein has raised concern regarding a government's ability to regulate health-related services. Availability and accessibility of healthcare services is crucial from the right to health perspective. The International Convention on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) obligates its Member States to respect, protect and realise progressively and to the maximum of its available resources 'the right to the highest attainable standard of health.' When a WTO Member is also a signatory to the ICESCR, the question arises whether the legislative framework regulating healthcare services under GATS conflicts with the said Member's obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the right to health. The present thesis attempts to answer this question through an analysis of GATS and the right to health norms within the framework of conflict of norms in international law. Although norm conflicts are generally assessed in terms of a legal relationship between a given State with another State, the present thesis focuses on a single State bound by both sets of rules where compliance with both obligations may/does lead to a legal, social or factual conflict.

This thesis undertakes a fresh inquiry into the status of the right to health care under international law, with a view to explaining how the right to health care has been variously interpreted. Previous studies into the right to health care have primarily focused on its philosophical basis, and while these studies have contributed significantly to the ethical debate on the existence of such a right, this thesis has as its foundation, the fact that there has been legal recognition of its existence in the form of its inclusion in international conventions and supporting documents, as well as, a in particular, domestic Constitutions and related Bills of Rights. It should be noted that this thesis will not examine in detail all documentation in which a right to health care in its various forms is mentioned. Rather a purposely selective examination has been instituted. / In respect to this selective examination, the process of selection was a deliberate one, specifically in relation to the case studies undertaken. The choice of countries to be of focus was based upon the different nature of the documentation in which the right to the health care could be said to be founded: Constitution, Charter or Bill of Rights, International Convention only, other legislative basis, or, as will be seen in the case of Tibet, International Convention but effectively in name only. In the opinion of the writer, this selection will provide a representative overview of the status of a right to health care in international law. The thesis is centrally concerned with the idea that the legal recognition of a socio-economic right, such as the right to health care, does not ensure that it is capable of enforcement. Rather, this thesis proposes that the legal recognition of a socio-economic right, specifically, a right to health care, has value, and can only claim validity from what the existence of the right can provide from a moral or ethical perspective. Further, this thesis proposes that the 'definability' - in other words, for justiciability' of socio-economic rights depends on their a right to be the subject of judicial scrutiny, it must be capable of sustaining a definition sufficient in substance to allow for judicial determination as to whether or not there has been a breach in its provision.

Thesis (M.A.P.S.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [60]-65).

Thesis (M.A.P.S.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [60]-65).

Thesis (M.A.P.S.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [60]-65).

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-165). Also available via the World Wide Web

Orientador: Cléa Adas Saliba Garbin / Resumo: A saúde é um bem indispensável à vida do ser humano. A Constituição, como estrutura organizadora do Estado, possui uma seção destinada somente a ela; uma conquista para nossa sociedade. O objetivo do trabalho é avaliar o conhecimento dos usuários de uma Unidade Básica de Saúde em relação à saúde e o seu direito. A pesquisa qualitativa foi a eleita por cuidar com preciosismo das falas transcritas obtidas através de entrevistas. Há um grau de desconhecimento elevado, o que faz com que a sociedade seja desorganizada no quesito direito á saúde. È premente a necessidade de instruir a população no tocante a seus direitos para que ela não sofra por não resistir a sua dignidade perdida. Esse é um dos pilares para que haja a evolução da sociedade de maneira justa: conhecendo seus direitos. / Abstract: The health is indispensable to the life's human. The Constitution, as an organized structure of the State, has a destined section only for itself; a conquest to our society. The aim of this research is evaluate the users' knowledge of Health Basic Center in relation of right to health. The qualitative research was chosen for take care with preciosity of transcript talks that were obtained of the interview. It is visible that exists a high level of nonacquaintance, so that, the society has been disorganized in the question of right to health. It is notable the necessity of teaching the population in relation of the rights, for don't have suffering for don't resist the lost dignity. This is one of the bases for has the evolution's society of impartial manner: know the rights. / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2004Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:27:09Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 pachecofilho_ac_me_araca.pdf: 268936 bytes, checksum: 2a7496bdfcf061a4036d33ab8dc04d6b (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A saúde é um bem indispensável à vida do ser humano. A Constituição, como estrutura organizadora do Estado, possui uma seção destinada somente a ela; uma conquista para nossa sociedade. O objetivo do trabalho é avaliar o conhecimento dos usuários de uma Unidade Básica de Saúde em relação à saúde e o seu direito. A pesquisa qualitativa foi a eleita por cuidar com preciosismo das falas transcritas obtidas através de entrevistas. Há um grau de desconhecimento elevado, o que faz com que a sociedade seja desorganizada no quesito direito á saúde. È premente a necessidade de instruir a população no tocante a seus direitos para que ela não sofra por não resistir a sua dignidade perdida. Esse é um dos pilares para que haja a evolução da sociedade de maneira justa: conhecendo seus direitos. / The health is indispensable to the life's human. The Constitution, as an organized structure of the State, has a destined section only for itself; a conquest to our society. The aim of this research is evaluate the users' knowledge of Health Basic Center in relation of right to health. The qualitative research was chosen for take care with preciosity of transcript talks that were obtained of the interview. It is visible that exists a high level of nonacquaintance, so that, the society has been disorganized in the question of right to health. It is notable the necessity of teaching the population in relation of the rights, for don't have suffering for don't resist the lost dignity. This is one of the bases for has the evolution's society of impartial manner: know the rights.

This thesis examines the use of the right to health as a legal tool for ensuring access to better health care in Africa and as a means of dealing with threats to human health on the continent. The thesis critically assesses some of the key ways in which the right to health has been used at the local, regional and global levels as part of efforts to improve health on the continent. The aim of the thesis is to assess the utility of the right to health in Africa particularly in light of challenges posed by the power of international economic actors, local and international structural constraints and the paradoxical position of the state as both a potential violator and protector of the right. / As this thesis shows, human rights are a powerful and inspirational language for people struggling against degradation, domination and deprivation for the reason that they give expression to the notion that human dignity, equality and freedom ought to be respected and protected. They are also a tool for resisting oppressive power, in addition to providing legitimacy for the redistribution of material resources necessary to meet basic human needs and to alleviate human suffering. The thesis further shows that these benefits of human rights have been enhanced through legalisation, a process through which human rights have been translated from moral or natural rights into legal rights capable of being enforced through judicial and quasi-judicial processes. But legalisation has its drawbacks, as the thesis demonstrates. / The thesis argues that despite the significant advances that have been made, particularly in the last fifteen years, in the elaboration and clarification of the content and justiciability of the right to health, its limitations as a legal right are particularly evident in light of a number of factors. These include the power of international economic actors, local and international structural constraints and the problematic potential of the state as both a protector and violator of the right to health. By examining concrete instances in which efforts have been made to use the right to health in the context of some or of all these factors, the thesis demonstrates the limits and potential of the right as a legal right. The thesis thus argues that a proper account of the utility of the right to health should not overemphasise the legalisation of the right but must include an analysis of the power relations and structural constraints at play at both the international and local levels, which jeopardise good health in Africa in the first place. It is further argued that such an account offers a better understanding of how the moral, legal and political forms of the right to health might be strategically and productively combined in the struggle for better health in Africa.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 1998. Graduate Programme in Philosophy. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 351-366). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ27298.