HEALTH POLICY AND HEALTH SYSTEMS

ZADHR’s ‘Campaign for the Inclusion of the Right to Health in the New Constitution’ project seeks to inform the general public of the benefits of including the right to health in the constitution. It also seeks to facilitate meaningful participation of health professionals and communities in the constitutional making process with respect to the right to health. The project will run until a new constitution for the country is adopted.

The right to health is “the right to enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”  Key components of the right to health include timely and appropriate health care; adequate supply of safe water, basic sanitation, nutrition and housing; maternal, child and reproductive health; participation in health-related decision making and access to health related information.

The following are some of the reasons why the right to health should be included in the Constitution:

4. A legal framework for protecting and promoting health. This is why there are laws such as the Public Health Act and Medical Services Act which regulate health services in the country. Similarly a legal framework for health as a human right is necessary. As the constitution is the supreme law of the country, this is where the guarantee for the right to health should begin.
5. Government has committed itself to fulfilling the right to health by being party to various regional and international treaties which guarantee the right to health. Including the right to health in a new constitution will bring Zimbabwe into compliance with the regional and international treaties that it is party to and affirm government’s commitment to the health of its citizens.
6. Having the right to health guaranteed by the highest law in the land will empower Zimbabweans to demand protection of the right to health and to ask political leaders to justify policy decisions that they make that negatively impact vulnerable groups and are contrary to the constitution. It will also be possible to challenge such policies and laws that violate the right to health in court.
7. Economic, social and cultural rights are just as important as civil and political rights. The right to health must be guaranteed just as the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly are protected.

Protecting the right to health within a justiciable bill of rights means it is enforceable and can actually be claimed unlike rights stated as part of ‘National Objectives’.

The success of the campaign lies in the coordinated support of civic organisations in campaigning for the prominence of socio economic and cultural rights of which the right to health is part of. ZADHR will work with civic organisations from around the country to insure that the objectives and the ultimate goal of the campaign are fulfilled. Partners include the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH), Bulawayo Agenda, Masvingo Residents and Ratepayers Association and , Mutare Residents and Ratepayers Association.