Reflections on the right to health

All human beings have a right to health, but what that means is vague. According to the World Health Organization, ‘health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (WHO 1946). The former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Paul Hunt, defines it as access to an effective and integrated health system. Also included in the definition are underlying determinants of health that might influence a person’s ability to live a healthy life (Hunt 2006). The right to health is of central importance, of course, and we define it as having access to healthcare as well as aspects of everyday life of importance for a healthy life.1 The latter means such things as friendship, support networks, and access to educational institutions. These were identified as central to our research because they are determinants of health, in the sense that the young people participating in our study referred to them as important. Furthermore,previous research shows that these are important aspects of coping and struggling in everyday life for children who are in a marginalized position (Andersson et al. 2010). Regarding healthcare, this is also an area that has recently been subject to a progressive political or legal development in Sweden and its third largest city, Malmö...