Public Health. 2009 Apr;123(4):302-5. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2008.09.002.

Health impact assessment: the contribution of the right to the highest attainable standard of health.

Public health

G MacNaughton, P Hunt

PMID: 19386335 DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2008.09.002

Abstract

There are growing demands for governments to carry out human rights impact assessments prior to adopting and implementing policies. This article outlines a preliminary human rights impact assessment methodology, using the right to the highest attainable standard of health as the case study. The authors recommend a mainstreaming approach, which involves integrating human rights into existing impact assessment methodologies. Accordingly, they identify considerations that, from a human rights perspective, governments should incorporate into existing impact assessment methodologies in order to comply with their legal obligations to realize human rights. To test the mainstreaming methodology, the authors propose integrating the right to the highest attainable standard of health into health impact assessment.

MeSH terms

• Global Health
• Health
• Health Promotion / legislation & jurisprudence
• Human Rights / legislation & jurisprudence
• Human Rights / standards
• Humans
• Policy Making*
• Public Policy*
• Social Responsibility

Publication Types

• Journal Article
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't