Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Afghanistan
Delegate Name: Aaron Baker
School: Roeper School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Afghanistan position papers GLIMUN 2012 committees
A large quantity of nations in existence today do not recognize healthcare as a human right. The reason for nations not recognizing healthcare as a right consists of a variety of different reasons. Some nations simply and falsely believe healthcare is not a right. Whereas some nations may desire to recognize the right of their citizens to healthcare services but do not have the ability to meet this belief, and therefore do not recognize healthcare as a right. This is often the case for developing nations.
Since the overthrow of the Taliban, Afghanistan has seen a plethora of successful transformations. Amongst these transformations is the accessibility of health services to a majority of our population. Currently, 85% of the population of Afghanistan has access to basic healthcare. And a predominant percentage of the healthcare services derives from private institutions (70%). Afghanistan believes that this is fulfilling chapter 2, article 31 of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s constitution that states the right of every Afghani citizen to healthcare, even if it is not the Afghani government supplying all of the medical services itself.
Furthermore, Afghanistan is of the belief that a nation that recognizes healthcare as a right, must attempt to the best of their ability to get sufficient healthcare to its citizens via government spending and or aid from outside institutions, as well as setting the proper environment for aid to be able to be delivered. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan believes that the right to healthcare should be met by adequate medical services to all law-abiding citizens. Afghanistan believes that accepting healthcare as a human right, but doing nothing to ensure this right is available to the population of a given country is not acceptable. Afghanistan’s opinion is that sufficient health care should consist of at least a focus on maternal and newborn health, child health and immunizations, nutrition, communicable diseases, mental health, disability, and pharmaceutical supply. The right to healthcare also means the ability for all citizens to access healthcare in a reasonably easy fashion, not having to take burdensome or expensive measures in order to receive the medical care.
Afghanistan is in concurrence with article 25 of the universal declaration of human rights, in that all people have the right to adequate medical care services. For similar reasons Afghanistan endorses the W.H.O constitution. Afghanistan also agrees with Article 12 of 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, due to Afghanistan’s agreement that measures supporting the right to health includes amongst other things the attenuation of child infant mortality, the amelioration of environmental hygiene, the creation of conditions to support healthcare for all, and the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of diseases on all scales. And lastly, Afghanistan also supports the general comment on the right to health that was adopted by ICESCR.
Afghanistan exhorts the recognition of health care as human right amongst nations across the globe. Afghanistan urges developed nations and NGO’s to funnel aid in the form of capital, and resources to developing nations such as Afghanistan in order for more developing nations to recognize health care as a right. And in doing so, the health standards of the world would be meliorated significantly as long as nations, recognize health care as a human right properly. Afghanistan suggests this committee converses in serious dialogue about the right to healthcare, and ways in which other nations could be compelled to recognize the right of healthcare. Afghanistan encourages nations to provide medical service. Afghabistan sees a dire of developed nations and NGO’s to contribute aid to developing nations such as Afghanistan, as well as developed nations in Africa, Latin America, etc; in order to either compel these nations to properly recognize healthcare as a right or be able to fulfill the right of healthcare in which they already recognize more successfully.
