The right to health supports global public health

In this chapter, we explain how human rights, including the right to health, are important for global public health. We introduce key human rights concepts and principles, and illustrate three approaches to the right to health: judicial, policy, and empowerment. We propose that human rights and public health are natural allies with a complementary and supportive relationship. We describe the meaning of the right to the highest attainable standard of health and its place in international, regional, and national laws. We outline ten key elements of the right to health and how the right can be operationalized in public health practice. We demonstrate this with two case studies of critically important global public health issues—climate change and children’s health, and overseas development assistance—as well as one of an emerging challenge in health, the digitization of health through Big Data.