UN CEDAW COMMITTEE General Recommendation No. 24 (20th session, 1999)
(Article 12 : Women & Health)
1. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, affirming that access to health care, including reproductive health is a basic right under the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, determined at its 20th session, pursuant to article 21, to elaborate a general recommendation on article 12 of the Convention.
17. The duty to fulfil rights places an obligation on States parties to take appropriate legislative, judicial, administrative, budgetary, economic and other measures to the maximum extent of their available resources to ensure that women realize their rights to health care. Studies such as those which emphasize the high maternal mortality and morbidity rates worldwide and the large numbers of couples who would like to limit their family size but lack access to or do not use any form of contraception provide an important indication for States parties of possible breaches of their duties to ensure women's access to health care. The Committee asks States parties to report on what they have done to address the magnitude of women's ill-health, in particular when it arises from preventable conditions, such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The Committee is concerned at the growing evidence that States are relinquishing these obligations as they transfer State health functions to private agencies. States parties cannot absolve themselves of responsibility in these areas by delegating or transferring these powers to private sector agencies. States parties should therefore report on what they have done to organize governmental processes and all structures through which public power is exercised to promote and protect women's health. They should include information on positive measures taken to curb violations of women's rights by third parties, to protect their health and the measures they have taken to ensure the provision of such services.
New UN-World Bank Report Shows the World ‘a Long Way from Achieving Universal Health Coverage’ – Especially Serious for WOMEN
Some 400 million people do not have access to health services and 6 per cent of people in low- and middle-income countries are tipped into or pushed further into extreme poverty because of the high cost of health spending, according to a report released today by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank Group.
Tracking universal health coverage: first global monitoring report
Joint WHO/World Bank Group Report, June 2015
Direct Link to Full 2015 Report on Universal Health Coverage
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsId=51140#.VXyOkXkw_mJ
12 June 2015 – Some 400 million people do not have access to health services and 6 per cent of people in low- and middle-income countries are tipped into or pushed further into extreme poverty because of the high cost of health spending, according to a report released today by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank Group.
“The world’s most disadvantaged people are missing out on even the most basic services,” Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director-General, Health Systems and Innovation, said in a joint WHO/World Bank press release.
"A commitment to equity is at the heart of universal health coverage,” continued Dr. Kieny. “Health policies and programmes should focus on providing quality health services for the poorest people, women and children, people living in rural areas and those from minority groups.”
The joint WHO/World Bank report, Tracking universal health coverage: First global monitoring report, is the first of its kind to measure health service coverage and financial protection to assess countries’ progress towards universal health coverage.
Launched today, the report said more people have access to essential health services today than at any other time in history, and “for some health services, global population coverage already surpasses 80 per cent, and in the past decade there is some evidence that the proportion of people hit by health service-related catastrophic spending and impoverishment has dropped somewhat.”
“However,” the report said, “there is still a long way to go on the road to UHC [universal health coverage] both in terms of health service and financial protection coverage.”
The report looks at global access to essential health services – including family planning, antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, child immunization, antiretroviral therapy, tuberculosis treatment, and access to clean water and sanitation¬ – in 2013, and found that at least 400 million people lacked access to at least one of these services.
In addition, across 37 countries, 6 per cent of the population was tipped or pushed further into extreme poverty ($1.25/day) because they had to pay for health services out of their own pockets.
The World Bank’s Senior Director of Health, Nutrition and Population, Dr. Tim Evans, noted that the report “is a wakeup call.”
“It shows that we’re a long way from achieving universal health coverage,” Dr. Evans said. “We must expand access to health and protect the poorest from health expenses that are causing them severe financial hardship.”
This is the first in a series of annual reports that WHO and the World Bank Group will produce on tracking progress towards UHC across countries.
WHO and the World Bank Group recommend that countries pursuing universal health coverage should aim to achieve a minimum of 80 per cent population coverage of essential health services, and that everyone everywhere should be protected from catastrophic and impoverishing health payments, according to a joint press release.
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/recomm.htm#recom24
Извор: WUNRN – 13.06.2015
