Healthcare as a Human Right

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Afghanistan
Delegate Name: Aaron Baker
School: Roeper School

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.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Argentina
Delegate Name: Jake Minor
School: Mattawan High School

People suffer every year around the year from medical problems. These can easily be avoided with the proper recognition of what is needed. Healthcare is a topic of much debate across the world; is it considered a right or just something that only a wealthy country can afford? There is not one country in the world that has the goal of specifically wishing its people unhealthy. Argentina believes that every country in the world should have a healthcare system that benefits every member of a country, and there should be a dialogue with the countries that cannot afford to do so.

Most importantly, when it comes to health care the most important step is to develop a method of disease prevention. There must be cost-affective steps taken so that every country has access to healthcare and cannot claim otherwise. Argentina believes that healthcare is a right every person of every country should have universally. Argentina understands that every country cannot afford to pay 9.5% of its GDP on healthcare expenditures; there must be a solution set in place so that less wealthy countries can afford to prevent disease. Maybe more wealthy nations can fund a program that contribute to something that would leave a lasting impact like funding the education of local peoples who can further educate more members of local populations on the prevention of sicknesses. Furthermore there should be no distinction placed between am immigrant to a country and a natural born citizen. If healthcare is offered to one person it should be offered to any person no matter their citizenship.

The committee should make an active effort to implement a system in which every country can afford for basic healthcare. Because Argentina believes that healthcare is a human right the committee should also make an attempt to define that everyone should have access to healthcare no matter what the circumstances. The committee should also organize a response organization to help developing countries build and react to unknown healthcare emergencies.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Azerbaijan
Delegate Name: William Davids
School: Royal Oak High School

The health and well being of an individual is a fundamental human right and should be preserved for all citizens. It is the responsibility of every nation to ensure that their citizens are in good health, and if they are not, they have access to health care. The ideal health care system may not be attainable for undeveloped nations, which is why developed nations with the resources need to help usher in new health care systems for all people of the globe. In many cases the infrastructure is already there, but low standards have resulted in poor health.

This committee should maintain and recognize that access to health care is a human right previously laid out in the UDHR. This entails access to basic health care to all citizens in order to maintain healthy populations for the benefit of each individual as well as the population as a whole. Health care should be provided to all citizens of a nation and should not be denied due to religion, social or economic class. We must also realize that the process of providing health care may be a transitional process for some nations. Nations must first establish the framework for which they will eventually be able to provide health care to all citizens. This involves the basic health care coverage provided by the state, which may cover preventative care, such as vaccinations. This is vital in maintaining healthy populations in areas where diseases spread easily or conditions are poor.

Azerbaijan would like to work toward defining a goal or standard for health care and lay out a process in which that goal can be met by every nation. This committee also needs to take into account the possible economic burden this may create for undeveloped nations when providing healthcare. It is important that the international community maintain strong relations with each other in order to improve the health of our citizens which may include aid to countries in order to provide the health care to every human in need of it.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Bangladesh
Delegate Name: Lily Huver
School: Forest Hills Northern High School

Bangladesh has has strong beliefs that every country should be able to make their own choices regarding health care. Health care varies from country to country because of things such as economic status, investments, population, etc….. Henceforth, every country has the right to decide what medical expenses are covered by health care and the services provided and should be defined based on by the decisions of the country itself, rather than a worldwide standard. This belief also includes who has access to health care.

Bangladesh is a developing country and needs to focus on developing its industries and government, seeing that it is a relatively young country. Health care is not something Bangladesh needs to be focusing itself on at the moment, due to its overpopulation and economic status. Specifically the population is an increasing problem and needs to be addressed. Bangladesh’s views on health care are quite stern, however some reform has been made and is continuing to be to be addressed, but not as much as the other problems this country faces. Bangladesh is also open to aid by alie countries countries and accept the help with open arms. Bangladesh has the intentions to improve health care in addition to the reforms already set in place, once the country becomes more economically stable.

Regarding health care as a right, Bangladesh believes that only those who service the government deserve to have their health care covered by the government. However, in major cities, there are some hospitals that accept everyone and in most rural communities there is some sort of a medic who can address most of the common illnesses or injuries.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Barbados
Delegate Name: Michael Sienko
School: Williamston High School

Healthcare is defined as the preservation of mental and physical health by preventing or treating illness through services offered by the health profession. Access to healthcare is defined as how much a person can obtain routine healthcare and vaccines. Many countries believe that it is a right for humans to have healthcare, but some do not have the same belief.

The great nation of Barbados firmly believes that healthcare is a human right. Our country has national healthcare and our citizens are free to live without worrying about losing their life by not having healthcare. Our healthcare is among the best in the Caribbean. Although there are some challenges to gaining access to some highly specialized clinical and rehabilitative services, our core services are well developed. This well developed healthcare will provide safety to the valuable citizens of Barbados. We also have a highly respected cardiac surgical program that has been in place for over a decade. These examples are just the beginning of the medical advancements countries that have national healthcare can have.

We believe that other countries in the United Nations should follow our example in getting healthcare for all of its citizens. Some countries may not want national healthcare because it may be too costly. Also, it could potentially raise taxes on people in their own country. However, it is too risky to not give healthcare to everyone in your country. Healthcare is a human right, and something that cannot be taken away from people. Through cooperation with the United Nations, Barbados hopes to pass a successful resolution that grants healthcare to all people.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Bolivia
Delegate Name: Henry Brown
School: Ann Arbor Community High School

Bolivia believes that healthcare is a right that all human beings have, and rejects the idea that it should be a right reserved for the richest members of society. All human life should be valued equally, and refusing treatment to the sick, or leaving them forever in debt from their treatment, is a serious problem in very much of the world.

Having said that, Bolivia is dealing with some serious healthcare issues in our own country. There is a great deal of poverty, homelessness, and sickness from diseases such as malaria. We are struggling to move health care from a nationalized program to a more regional program that would let local governments and indigenous peoples control their own responses to the health care problems of their communities. Even as we strive to better our healthcare system, we suffer from a lack of trained medical personnel and equipment. The Bolivian government has initiated programs to help citizens pay for treatment, along with campaigns stressing the importance of proper nutrition and vaccination, but we still face a somewhat broken and inefficient healthcare system in our country.

The problems faced in Bolivia are not so different from problems faced throughout the world. Bolivia believes that a larger effort should be made by organizations such as the United Nations in bringing treatment to the millions of people who do not have access to health care. Universal health care is something Bolivia believes should be implemented in not only our own country, but in any country willing to make the changes needed to provide government created health care to any people in need. While there is still much work to be done, Bolivia plans on working continuously until health care is recognized and provided as a right for all humans, and not just a privilege for those blessed with the resources necessary for medical treatment.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Brazil
Delegate Name: Emma Woodruff
School: Forest Hills Northern High School

Globally, there are lots of people suffering from a lack of or absence of healthcare. Innocent people lose their lives everyday because they can't afford private health care. Lives of these people can be saved with the establishment of universal health care. Brazil feels that it is most definitely a human right.

Brazil thinks that health care should be available to all citizens so matter what their economic standing in society. Free health care will not be denied to anyone. We believe that if a nation is fully committed to the idea that health care is in fact a human right, then it is most definitely achievable. Brazil has been very successful in having our universal health care system. We have achieved this success with a combination of both the SUS and an abundance of financial assistance from various sources. Taxes and private investments fund most of our programs. And while we do give citizens the opportunity to opt for private insurance, only about 25% of them do. 100% of our population has the opportunity to take advantage of our universal health care system.

With proper planning and funding, Brazil feels that universal health care should be a right in all countries. While we are aware that it is expensive, we do not believe that that is enough reason to deny citizens such an important human right. Brazil understands that not all countries will be able to invest as much as others into such a system, but feels that nations need to at least be willing to try their best. Healthcare is a human right and should be achievable to everyone in the world. We believe that every country should set minimum health care standards and stick by them.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Cameroon
Delegate Name: Daniel Roy
School: Ann Arbor Community High School

Cameroon firmly supports that healthcare should be a human right. Injury and disease is far too prevalent in certain regions of the world, such as Africa. A lack of accessible health care in these countries means people are dying too early. Raising life expectancies and improving overall health are key steps to improving the struggling region of Africa. Cameroon believes that a country full of healthy people can achieve a lot more than one full of sick people. Cameroon is a perfect example of a country that could benefit from better health care. In Cameroon, the average life expectancy is only 51, and diseases like malaria and sleeping sickness are rampant. Also, 7% of the population has HIV or AIDS. When disease and sickness are rampant, it is hard to take any steps towards significantly improving a country.

The main problem with getting adequate healthcare to every human is lack of resources. Hospitals and medical supplies are not only limited, but are both expensive. African countries simply don’t have access to the medical resources that wealthier countries have. They also don’t have the money to acquire them. For example, Cameroon can only spend five percent of their budget on healthcare due to limited funds. If other member nations wish to make healthcare a human right, the United Nations must be prepared to allocate funds towards providing healthcare to people who cannot afford it. There is no other way that poor countries will be able to provide healthcare to all of their citizens.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Canada
Delegate Name: Brian Funk
School: Fishers High School

Canada believes that countries should be accountable for providing healthcare to their citizens because looking after the health of residents is a responsibility of states.

We consider healthcare to be a government sponsored payment of health-related needs. Whenever an occupant of a country becomes sick, needs medication, surgery or medical related events, the government needs to either pay for or help offset the price of these costs. Without this, many people can’t pay for the care they need, and Canada believes that it is the government’s duty to look after the well-being of its inhabitants. Access to healthcare should be defined as a person’s ability to have medical care, whether they can pay for it or not. Any death or injury that occurs because of lack of money is preventable and, as stated earlier, becomes the government’s job to avert these situations through healthcare. When a country does not have healthcare, it is likely for two reasons- The state does not have the monetary means to afford it, or they just have not found the right system that works for them. However, Canada follows the idea that no matter the reason, healthcare is a Human Right and needs to be provided to the people. It is every person’s right to get the medical attention they need, and not be worried about paying for said care. Our own version of healthcare has been very successful, as a high percent of our population not only likes having healthcare, but they also say they would not make any changes to it. With this in mind, we believe that our system can be used as a base example of the capabilities of sturdy healthcare guidelines.

Canada would like to propose the creation of a document that recognizes medical attention and treatment as a right of every human being. The simplest way to make this occur would be through setting up a baseline of what the minimum healthcare standards should be. We believe that this should at least include a government sponsored partial (or full) payment option for those who cannot afford any treatment they need. For the states who don’t have the funds to comply with the aforementioned resolution, a reserve can be made to assist. Instead of being paid for by the government, a group within the United Nations will oversee this fund and distribute them based on a waiting list. Many things could be taken into consideration for the dispense of the money, including the applicant’s age, amount of money needed, and likelihood of the assistance keeping the applicant alive. Our hope is that member states who are able or willing would donate to the cause and assist with raising funds. Also, we expect that some individual people would be prepared to contribute through donations as well. While a system such as this would be difficult to construct and maintain, its value cannot be overlooked. We have faith that, once constructed, this structure for providing healthcare will help many in need of assistance in paying for medical bills. Canada recognizes healthcare as a human right, and believes it needs to be available to as many people as possible.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Central African Republic
Delegate Name: Ryan Hulbert
School: Mattawan High School

International law from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights basically states that all people deserve healthcare. So, making a minimum amount of healthcare in every country makes sense. But a couple pressing questions remains: who should pay for this healthcare, and who should be in charge of distributing it?

The Central African Republic would like to point out that it is one of the countries in the world that it does not have the healthcare that its citizens deserve. In fact, due to problems within our country, we are only able to spare 1.5% of the GDP on public health. This means that our citizens, who often live in hostile environments, have a low life expectancy, as opposed by the life expectancies of Germany, China, and the United States. As you can see, we may need this healthcare more than most of the countries in the world.

Thus, we have come up with a solution we believe benefits everybody. Money is a great issue for some of the countries of the world. The Central African Republic believes that any country that fails to be able to support the new law should be helped by appropriate countries that can help them. Perhaps each country who can spare money should for the good of these poor countries. Also, each individual country should be able to choose how to use that money for those healthcare laws. The Central African Republic does not necessarily need Sweden’s or Argentina’s way of healthcare- it needs the Central African Republic’s way.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: China
Delegate Name: Keenan Smith
School: Flint Southwestern Classical Academy

It’s hard for one to go into detail of the ideal of healthcare being a human right, considering the fact that it’s an idea that those who can afford it thought of. While it is an ideal position, to be in favor of every person having the right to receive affordable healthcare, it is, however, simply not feasible in most of the world. To be able to provide healthcare to all of your people is to be able to pay for the healthcare of all of your people. We, as partners in international cooperation, should try to encourage all nations to achieve such progress that all their citizens have access to quality healthcare, but should not try to condemn those states which lack the economic or legal means to do so. When looking at a map of nations that have provided their people with universal healthcare, or something near identical to that, one can see the clear distinction between the developed world and the developing world. Most importantly, we must realize the strain the economic crisis has put on developing nations, and treat their healthcare statistics accordingly.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has been ratified in the People’s Republic since 2001, only three years after it was signed. This document includes all of the aspirations our nation has in the context of human rights and, as mentioned by many scholars, an article (Article 12) that has laid the foundation for such a debate on this topic. The People’s Republic agrees with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on healthcare, in that we believe a system should be in place that allows for people to receive the best possible care in the event of sickness and all people should be able to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health. These are goals that the People’s Republic has for itself, but the international community needs to accept the fact that most nations who cannot provide such rights as mentioned in the International Covenant do not because of a lack of means. Our committee must not try to make human rights abusers out of developing nations, and instead should work with all nations to agree on what every person should have. While we fight to ensure that all people have quality healthcare, we must work to provide a means to do so in the developing world.

The People’s Republic of China feels that this body must simply outline that member states should aspire to provide quality healthcare to all, instead of saying that those who do not are wrong. Pointing fingers is counter-productive in foreign politics, as anyone can clearly see when looking at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict or the West’s issues with Iran. We also believe that “healthcare”, in the terms of a human right, should be defined as the basic, essential care that people need to have good health, which, as we all should agree, is the most realistic goal for such a right. The world is not nearly as black and white as it is made out to be if one lives only by doctrine. We, as the United Nations, must sort through the gray.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Colombia
Delegate Name: Christian Koch
School: Ann Arbor Community High School

By, Christian Gerard Koch, representative of Colombia- Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian committee.

Colombia has been having it’s own health care debate in recent years. Our president, Juan Manuel Santos, plans on providing a new healthcare system for Colombians in the year 2012 to replace the old, out-dated plan. “We will have a universal benefit plan, an equitable and comprehensive one that will not exclude any pathology, that is not going to exclude any disease,” Santos said. In the past, we have had many issues with our health care system and aim to improve it.

Many citizens of Colombia have ridiculed the recent healthcare system as a “business” due to the many private healthcare companies has dominated it. The public healthcare system is for people who cannot afford private insurance – about half of Colombia’s 44 million people are in debt. Many Colombian citizens are being denied healthcare, as the mainstream companies cannot support their needs. This has created many obvious problems with the health care system. In short, there is simply no more money in government coffers to fund extensive healthcare for those who need it the most and can’t afford private insurance. Even the government has admitted in recent weeks the system is in crisis. Over the month of October, Colombia has eliminated nearly forty healthcare companies from the public healthcare system due to companies embezzling over 2.5 million dollars in healthcare money.

The crisis in Colombia is very complicated and we want to fix it. We want to improve the system so everyone may have affordable healthcare. Healthcare is a big issue around the world in recent years. As Colombia is aiming to rebuild it’s focus on humanities, healthcare is an aspect of life that the world is beginning to recognize and Colombia aims to go along with developed countries such as Switzerland and Germany. The year 2012 will bring a new, reformed healthcare system into full effect.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Congo
Delegate Name: Stefan Wanczyk
School: Ann Arbor Community High School

The Democratic Republic at the beginning of the 1990's had, on paper at least, less people per physician than many of its neighboring countries and better access to healthcare for it's people. However after more than a decade of conflict which has caused both disastrous loss of life, and the crippling of the Democratic republic of Congo's healthcare system, accurate data is hard to find. Within a country healthcare and people's access to healthcare cannot be defined simply by the number of physicians in the population or number of hospitals. The DRC believes that to fully examine a country's healthcare system it is important to do further analysis into how well the system covers the entire population, groups excluded from healthcare and the quality of healthcare provided.

The access to healthcare is the right of all people; creating a system that enables the entire population of a state to gain at least a basic level of care should be a priority of all countries. Any government unwilling to attempt to provide coverage for it's population is unfit to govern as protecting and ensuring their people's human rights is the most important role of a government.

The right to healthcare should not only include emergency care but should be expanded to include preventative care. This would serve to ensure a healthy population well into a nation's future and not just treat current health problems and epidemics. For a state to back a healthcare system it should not only be an unmoderated system which allows for basic healthcare but rather a system which makes an impact on the population of a nation that can be documented and guaranteed to all people regardless of social or economic class. It is the hope of the DRC that through providing aid and using incentives the UN can create the framework for a system of basic healthcare in all member states.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Costa Rica
Delegate Name: Claire Fishman
School: Ann Arbor Community High School

The right to life is the most essential, the most important of all individual rights. Without life, one cannot exercise any other right. And without health, one cannot have a high quality of life. Thus, Costa Rica recognizes the right to health as fundamental, something that must be maintained in order to ensure human dignity.

We are not alone in recognizing the importance of health, as it is also mentioned in both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, two documents that Costa Rica fully supports. A state has the responsibility to protect the rights of their citizens. If there is a right to health, than states must act to protect that right. And the only way to promote health is to ensure access to healthcare.

We recognize healthcare as services meant to improve or protect any aspect of a person’s health. This means that a healthcare system must be involved in promotion, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. Health is a multi-layered, complex concept and it is essential that all of its parts be addressed, even as our understanding of health evolves. This means that there can be no simple, limiting definition of what healthcare is.

Accessibility to healthcare can be just as vague a concept as healthcare itself; it is certainly a deceptively complicated term. In order to be available to all, healthcare services must be free of discrimination, obtainable by those of all economic strata, available in all geographic areas of the country, and accessible for the disabled. Additionally, the information of all users of the system, both personal and general, must be readily available to them.

Costa Rica has found that it is best able to guarantee that its residents will have access to healthcare by having a state-run healthcare system, CCSS (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social). For over seventy years, this system has produced exemplary results for relatively low costs. We are proud not only to have a healthcare system that is consistently ranked as one of the best in the Americas, but also to have the second highest life expectancy in the Americas. Having a public healthcare system does not preclude having a thriving private healthcare sector as well. Indeed, we have both, and residents are free to choose between them as they wish. Amid this wealth of choices, our residents still decide to support the public healthcare system. In fact, the percentage of healthcare funding provided by the Costa Rican government has steadily fallen over the years, dipping to 7.3% in 2001. We feel that the success of our healthcare system shows that a country need not be among the wealthiest of nations to provide for its residents’ health.

We are happy to share our expertise in the area of healthcare with other countries, and also wish to learn from their experiences. Currently, we have undertaken a number of bilateral and multilateral agreements focused around sharing knowledge about healthcare, and are also a part of many regional and international groups, such as the World Health Assembly (WHA), which focus on health policy. In order for healthcare to be improved globally, the international community must continue its dialogue on the best ways to do so.

The international community must agree that health–and by extension, healthcare–is an essential right. Try telling a child with a throbbing mouth, a new mother with a sick baby, or a grandmother suffering from arthritis that healthcare is a luxury, that they shouldn’t be guaranteed treatment, that their loved ones ought to have no guarantee of a reprieve from their pain. See if that makes any sense to them. Does it make sense to you?

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Croatia
Delegate Name: Merrick Perpich
School: Ann Arbor Community High School

Croatia believes every person of the international community should be guaranteed healthcare. A certain standard of health should be a human right, especially if the state has the economic means to provide the healthcare. However, it is often common for a state to not have the resources to provide this healthcare to its populous. In these where the nation does not have the means, it is important for the UN and other organizations to supplement aid.

The Republic of Croatia has affirmed this view through it's policies within it's own state. Croatia has a universal healthcare system, which can be traced back through the nations history. The Hungarian-Croatian Parliament Act of 1891 stated that providing a form of mandatory insurance of all factory workers and craftsmen is law. Croatian legislation stayed true to these beliefs by providing many services to it's citizens. The current ministry of health was implemented in 2003, and deals with healthcare and welfare. A World Health Organization office was established in Zagreb at Croatias request, to help with any foreseeable health care problems. By Croatia enforcing this universal healthcare system and seeking U.N. Aid, it reaffirms their strong belief that healthcare is a human right.

While the Republic of Croatia solidifies itself as one of the nations that sees healthcare as a right, it understands that this comes with a monetary loss to the nation. While it understands those countries that do not have the means to provide healthcare universally, it urges those countries with the means to provide for their citizens. It also urges those countries without the means, to seek aid from organizations such as the United Nations.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Czech Republic
Delegate Name: Natalie Shabahang
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School

A healthy and prosperous nation begins with healthy citizens. Without the most fundamental of human necessities, how can a nation progress to the heights of success? Furthermore, health care can help prevent the unnecessary loss of important civilians via epidemics. The issue of health care as a human right, therefore, remains of paramount importance. The Czech Republic’s health system has undergone serious changes in the past few decades, specifically due to the transition toward the market economy after 1989. Some specific changes include the recent introduction of a free choice of a general practitioner, direct access to specialists and specialist departments, and the emergence of the private health sector. However, though still changing, the Czech Republic’s policies are based on three “interconnected pillars,” according to the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic: the insured person, covered by the Act on Public Health Insurance, his or her insurance provider, and the care provider itself.

Less-developed countries may have several reasons for refusing to recognize a universal right to health care, including a lack of the necessary funds or resources to provide equal health care for all and a belief that health care is not something that the government should provide. At the same time, more developed countries may have different reasons for this decision, mostly pertaining to economic issues and policies. However, the Czech Republic maintains that basic health care should be provided to all its citizens, and it believes that public health insurance is an important part of this basic right. With insurance, people have the freedom to worry less about financial issues and more about their health, which is the goal of this assembly. To achieve this goal, nations can collaborate to decide on the minimum amount of security that the government should directly provide to each citizen.

The Czech Republic believes that states should provide this health insurance (see above), rather than merely providing the “legal framework” to make such policies possible. Though some countries with more pressing financial issues to attend to may be opposed to such policies, the Czech Republic is confident that a compromise is within reach.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Denmark
Delegate Name: Claire Atkinson
School: Fishers High School

The Kingdom of Denmark believes that it is important for people all over the world, not just those in countries with publicly accessible healthcare, to benefit from healthcare.

Before continuing, Denmark would like to urge fellow Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Committee delegates to remember the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (source being the United Nations Department of Public Information), specifically in the Preamble, first part of Article 25.

*Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.*

This excerpt reiterates the entitlement of every person to have a standard of living. However, this ‘standard of living’ is completely undefined. Denmark proposes that the Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Committee define, at least for a bare minimum, a standard of living acceptable for the health of a person and their family. Every person has this privilege.

Denmark would also like to bring to the Committee’s attention that it would benefit many to have a worldwide healthcare system. We feel this strongly; no one should be denied medical treatment or care on the basis of a country’s concentration of medical facilities are far and few between. Many European healthcare systems are sponsored by both public and private contributions. Denmark itself is funded primarily by tax revenue, similar to how the majority of universal health care systems are financed. Whether this solution could or should be solved, with a three-tier system or other notions, is up to the fellow delegates of the Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Committee. At the very least, a minimum line of medical care should be universally guaranteed.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Dominican Republic
Delegate Name: Alex Grainger
School: Mattawan High School

An unalienable right to humans is life. It is difficult to fully say that healthcare is right too. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, "Everyone has the right to a standard living adequate for the health, and wellbeing of himself and his family." The struggle with this is that who is to decide what the living conditions are standard. Countries believe that their citizens do need to be able to live healthily and safely, but it is difficult to ensure. Populations are growing and living standards are getting better, but at a cost. It is extremely expensive for a country to provide good healthcare. The SOCHUM committee needs to draw a line where the standard living condition and the cost to provide that meet.

The Dominican Republic realizes that many of its citizens may not be able to afford the healthy living standard on their own. The Dominican Republic has a primary healthcare strategy. This policy states that health is a fundamental right and should be free and equal to those who seek it. The policy also mandates that the State give priority to the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. The main problem that the Dominican Republic wants to fix is the infant mortality rate.

The Dominican Republic hopes to work with other powerful countries and developing countries to help each other out. The developing countries can make offers to the powerful countries for financial support. People who can not afford healthcare need help and it is their country's government's job to help provide this to them. The line will be drawn to see where the standard of living and the cost to provide that meet.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Egypt
Delegate Name: William-Howard Howard-Jackson
School: Fishers High School

For the country of Egypt, healthcare could be defined as the availability of medical attention for an individual despite their improper insurance and form of pay. Because of Egypt’s still growing economy, variations of healthcare are not in the best interest for the country alone. Because we already accept about on average 2.5 billion dollars a year from the U.S., we are in no shape to expect our citizens and government to be able to pay for the healthcare of the lower class citizens. It would be ideal if the UN could try to gather donations from higher class countries in order to help expense the healthcare for Egypt. As well as help out other countries in need and try to form a central share where based off of the unemployment rates and population, that would determine how much money each country gets in order to better finance healthcare needs the country may have.

A reason though we might have to deny someone healthcare would be if they were either one not a citizen or two not eligible. So if the UN could help send the message to citizens on the requirements it could possibly motivate people to get back on their and improve the economy. What would make a person eligible would be based off of their work history and income. A person who is not eligible could become eligible if they are able to meet the requirements given. As long as the person makes under a certain amount a year, and is a citizen, they will be eligible for healthcare because for the people making over this amount, they can properly fund healthcare themselves and providing for the less fortunate is necessary for a stronger country, all of this would only be if given the proper circumstances where we and the citizens have enough money to afford healthcare for people even in this category. That again is where the United Nations would come in, to help out countries that can’t provide for their citizens as well as other countries. But if it would be feasible, to have another share of funds go towards people that make slightly more than the minimum because every bit helps.

Millions of poor Egyptians have no health insurance and have relied on the government to pay for medical treatment. So we are not asking the United Nations to fully fund healthcare in specifically Egypt, but simply just to help and make it more concrete that these peoples have healthcare. Based off of the given requirements though, we feel healthcare is as fare as it can get given our countries still growing economy, the intervention of the UN is very productive and in the best interest for Egypt and other countries that face the same problems as us.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: France
Delegate Name: Susan Rusinowski
School: Royal Oak High School

Ideally, all nations aspire to having all citizens have full and equal access to health care. The international community has recognized that that the idyllic definition would include reactionary and preventative health care, free, for all. The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right of every human being was enshrined in the World Health Organization’s constitution over 60 years ago. Unfortunately, this standard is not attainable in all nations, especially those who lack funds and proper resources.

An important point to note is that the definition of health care as a human right and the definition of access to it are entirely separate subjects. For more than 96% of French citizens, medical care is entirely free including reactionary health care as well as preventative. France understands that not all countries are able to provide multiple facets of health care to their people, but also recognizes that all countries should realize that basic necessities—including access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation—and reactionary health care—medical care given in an emergency situation or crisis—should be provided, if possible, in all cases.

France obviously must recognize that not all countries can provide the necessary medical care to all of their people for free, or even at an attainable standard in some cases, but the definition of health care as a human right is something that countries aspire to. France would like to see the basis of health care as a human right at the very least include reactionary health care, but also extend to preventative health care as well. If the international community wants to work towards stopping the spread of transnational diseases, increase life expectancy rates, lower infant mortality rates, increase women and children’s health development, as well as other components that make up health care, we must include the definition of health care to help prevent medical conditions. Physicals, women’s reproductive health, pre-natal care, medical screenings, vaccinations, and other preventative measures are a step in the right direction for the international community to recognize as means to develop health care systems and the safety of civilians.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Germany
Delegate Name: William Bartz
School: Forest Hills Northern High School

Around the world there are people suffering from the lack of healthcare and/or the absence of properly trained medical staff. This problem has cost the world countless lives already, and if nothing is done about it now, countless more in the future. Certainly no country sets out to deny health care from its citizens, and the problem before us is more of how the United Nations can make health care an accessible resource worldwide.

It is the position of the German Government that health care is an undeniable human right, no matter what ethnicity, social class, or even status of citizenship one possesses. Free healthcare shall not be denied to anyone within the boundaries of the German borders, and it is the position of this government that every nation should observe this policy of non-exclusion. Germany has been successful in maintaining a universal health care system for over two-hundred years now, and believes that all countries have the means of providing some kind of health care to its citizens. However, recognizing the inability of some developing countries to afford universal healthcare, Germany believes that this problem can be solved via a combination of both education of peoples from the region in need, and proper funding from outside sources willing to contribute to said nation’s growth in this area. Some nations though are able to fund a universal health care system as Germany does, with a combination of both general taxation and private donation. While it is not the business of the United Nations to tell other countries how to fund a program of this size in each and every nation, its members who currently operate with a universalized health care system should be more than willing to aid in the planning of the financial process in prospective countries. However, if nations prove unwilling to take the proper measures in their country, Germany would like to suggest that the education of local peoples be the very least aid provided in the development of health care. International organizations must take the lead in finding funds for these nations. The European Union itself is composed of countries that are enormous success stories when it comes to Universal health care and countries that are willing to assist in the development of new universal health care systems in prospective nations as well. As health care is near impossible to define as a human right, the German Government sets its sights on making any kind of improvements in developing countries in particular.

In order to create forward momentum in increasing the standard of living of all people of this earth, the German Government finds it essential that measures be taken to plant the seeds of universal health care in developing nations. This will aid the growth of these nations, and with that growth the nation will reap the benefits of a more humanitarian and medically sound world.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Guatemala
Delegate Name: Gus Hlavacek
School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy

Guatemala's health care system consists of three sectors: public, private nonprofit, and private for-profit. Health coverage has been estimated to be low, with more than 40% of the population receiving no access to health care services. In 1999, there were 0.9 physicians and 1 hospital bed per 1,000 people. In 1999, 4.3% of GDP went to health problems. Among the largest causes of death are heart disease, intestinal parasites, bronchitis, influenza, and tuberculosis. Malnutrition, alcoholism, and inadequate sanitation and housing pose serious health problems. In 2000, 92% of the population had access to safe drinking water and 85% had acceptable sanitation. Malaria rates are high. In 1995, there were 23,608 new cases. Cholera was reported in 7,970 people in 1995. In 1999 there were 85 reported cases of tuberculosis per 100,000 inhabitants.

Guatemala does attempt to vaccinate its children and figures from 1997 are as follows: tuberculosis, 88%; diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus, 83%; polio, 83%; and measles, 74%. All routine vaccinations are paid for by the government. It is estimated that the poorest half of the population gets only 60% of the minimum daily caloric requirement. Some steps have been taken to fortify foods with daily vitamin requirements. Currently, sugar is being fortified with vitamin A and wheat flour will be fortified with iron. Data collected from 1990 to 1998 indicates that 32% of married women (ages 15 to 49) were using contraception.

Due to these statistics, Guatemala has had problems with health care. This is mainly because of a lack of money. Guatemala is a poor country and we are inferior to Burkina Faso.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Haiti
Delegate Name: Kendra Thomas
School: Forest Hills Central High School

Healthcare should be defined as a human right and all measures possible should be taken in order to help countries that cannot currently achieve this goal. Healthcare is important to the stability and success of a nation because without healthy people there cannot be a successful government. Establishing healthcare in all countries, especially developing ones, is a daunting task but it is important that all citizens are able to seek medical attention when in is necessary to their well being to do so.

The earthquake in 2010 devastated the country of Haiti. It destroyed many of the hospitals and clinics that had recently been constructed throughout the nation. It also greatly diminished the population leading to less doctors and nurses in the country during this time of great need. Although the global community responded with generous pledges of money and aid immediately after the earthquake, Haiti is yet to see a great deal of this money. Haiti believes that all people deserve the right to healthcare but it needs help in accomplishing this goal. We are still greatly recovering from the earthquake of 2010. It greatly appreciates all that has been done to help and would like to see this support continue.

Haiti is appalled at how quickly the global community can forget about the disaster that struck out country. We are simply asking for the aid that was promised to us so that out women do not have to give birth on the muddy grounds of their huts or so that the recent cholera outbreak does not kill more of our dwindling population. Haiti calls on the help of more developed countries as well as NGOs to help us in our mission of creating a country with more trained doctors and nurses, more effective hospitals and clinics, and a system for information about these new clinics to be spread to the rural areas of the country.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: India
Delegate Name: David Wang
School: Forest Hills Central High School

It is a priority of ever nation to maintain the health of its people and accordingly, healthcare is pivotal to domestic policy. Although every nation employs a system of healthcare, the topic remains ambiguous as every country defines its healthcare or even health itself by different standards. To be defined as a human right, healthcare must ultimately have a universal standard; the main cause of international debate. Of major concern, is the extent to which services can be distributed. The copious different healthcare systems can be generalized into three phases of care: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Each stage accounts for treatment of illness of varying severity and scope. The ability of every nation to address each phase faces monetary and standardization obstacles. In addition, countries that acknowledge the autonomy of individual states/provinces face a greater challenge to unify the system. Furthermore, countries that do not have developed healthcare systems will not be able to provide quality universal healthcare even if costs are subsidized. In many nations, the private healthcare sector dominates the public sector. It is not in the vicinity of the governing body to regulate such business ventures. Attempting to federally regulate private healthcare and insurance will put unintentional economic strains on the country as The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has in the United States. Finally, many nations disagree on whether public health operations should be integrated into traditional healthcare services. Access to sanitation and clean water is a major factor that influences the health of a population. It is unclear if healthcare encompasses suitable conditions to live a healthy life.

India is subject to severe epidemics and must constantly improve healthcare operations as well as expand availability. Major progress in making healthcare more accessible was achieved with enactment of the Indian Constitution in 1949. Formerly, the caste system restricted the rights of low tier members like Daltis. One of the most recent government-sponsored initiatives to improve health care access among Dalits includes a state-government-funded health insurance called the Rashtriya Swasthiya Bima Yojana, which translates into English as “Health Insurance for the Poor.” Compared to other past initiatives, RSBY allows beneficiaries to choose between public and private hospitals and makes hospitals compete for their clients/patients. However, the private medical sector remains the primary source of health care for the majority of households in both urban areas (70 percent) and rural areas (63 percent) of India. Several reasons are cited for relying on private rather than public sector; the topmost reason is poor quality of care in public sector, with more than 57% households pointing to this as the reason for the preference of private heath care. Other major reasons include distance of the public sector facilities, long waiting time, and inconvenient hours of operation.

The purpose of this conference should be to encourage improvement, reform and availability of healthcare, especially in developing states. The committee should focus on immediate forms of healthcare including, but not limited to, district level delivery systems, vertical health programs, and comprehensive primary healthcare services such as health promotion, disease prevention, curative care and end-of-life services, that are integrated and coordinated according to need. It is also imperative that developing nations be given the tools and funding required to modernize their healthcare, train adequate personnel, and create a sustainable funding mechanism of their own. Finally, India advocates the enforcement of the provisions of Resolution EB124/SR/11, which addresses the above issues. The committee must ultimately recognize that despite a nation’s best efforts to provide healthcare, it cannot be defined as a right.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Indonesia
Delegate Name: Brooke Michelson
School: Roeper School

Healthcare as a human right is an issue with many facets, definitions, and debatable points. While most agree that healthcare is a human right, many have varying opinions about what extent of healthcare is a right, and to what degree a nation’s government is monetarily responsible for providing it to its population. Comprehensive healthcare can prove to be a huge financial strain on a nation: In 2008, the health care industry consumed an average of 9.0 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) across the most developed OECD countries. The United States (16.0%), France (11.2%), and Switzerland (10.7%) were the top three spenders.

The Republic of Indonesia runs into many obstacles when addressing healthcare as a human right and the government’s responsibility for it. Primarily, there is a shortage of doctors. WHO reported that In 2006, ratio of general practitioners was 19.9 per 100,000. This shortage is only compounded by the unequal distribution of health workers due the great variations in geographic distribution of wealth. Though our nation has challenges to overcome, we are committed to providing basic healthcare, hospital treatment when ailment or disease strikes, to all of our citizens. Currently, an estimated 56 percent of Indonesia’s population of around 240 million hold some form of health insurance, mainly coming from the private sector. WHO also reported that In 2003, around 34% of total health expenditure is undertaken by public sector agencies, while 66% is private. We have an ambitious yet important plan to shift more of the basic healthcare burden onto the government, and we urge other member states to do the same. We aim to have a system of universal social health insurance coverage in place by 2014, with basic hospital bed stay and care being covered for every Indonesian.

When discussing Healthcare as a human right, it is imperative that committee members work to define key terms and meanings of what extent of healthcare is an essential right. It is also important to work towards solutions to push member states to prioritize providing healthcare and approbating and following the example of those who do. We all must acknowledge that the health and well being of a nation’s population ought to be at the forefront a government’s plan. The Republic of Indonesia looks forward to working with The Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee to work towards clarification and resolution of this issue.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Iran
Delegate Name: John Dwyer
School: Forest Hills Central High School

Healthcare should be defined, as a private sector healthcare institution looking after, and caring for the health needs of its patrons. Access to healthcare would further be defined as the institution providing for the immediate needs of the patient regardless of the patients ability to pay for the care they are provided.

Nations point to the rising cost in health care, and political divides as the main reasons for not providing immediate, universal healthcare to all citizens, and legal populations living within their boarders. Another reason could be the lack of work that a person may be providing to their country’s economy. If a citizen is not contributing, a nation is not going to want to pay for someone who has done little, to nothing, to benefit his or her own nation. However, to deny healthcare to people is a death sentence and nations that do not provide health care should be considered hostile and advocates of evil.

Under no circumstance should a patient, foreign or domestic, be denied the immediate health care necessary to continue living. It is essential for individuals, as well as families, because it helps preserve lives. In Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries, health care could be very beneficial and even lower infant mortality rates, which could eventually have a number of beneficial effects. Some countries in the Middle East, and all over the world, may not be able to cover universal health care costs. That is why the countries of the UN should provide financial aid to those nations in need. This would help nations provide the health care and not just the ground work, or legal work, to cover it.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Ireland
Delegate Name: Emily Barnum
School: Vicksburg High School

The difficulty of declaring healthcare as a human right becomes very apparent when one takes into account the varying statuses of states across the world; while many would agree on the need to have healthy populations, not all would agree on to what degree this should be a feat for governments to tackle as it is a complex issue that some nations can not even begin to think about. In general however, Ireland would encourage states to provide as much of an access to healthcare as possible, understanding the different limitations that each state has on its ability to provide this kind of care of its people.

Some states may attempt to not recognize healthcare as a human right because of the inability to meet this right if it declared so. In addition, if it is declared a right, what part do governments need to play in reinforcing and providing for this right? Ireland represents a blend of private and government based in an attempt to provide healthcare all citizens and immigrants from the EEU. Groups within Ireland, such as Amnesty, are working to spread the message that healthcare is not only a human right, but one that the government should work to provide completely. It may seem easier for states with means that could potentially go towards providing healthcare to all of their people to support the idea of healthcare being a human right.

Ireland wishes to provide for its people the best standard of living that it can provide. Likewise, Ireland supports other countries in this endeavor, as even though experiencing an economic downfall, Ireland continues to offer the best healthcare that it can and is working currently towards providing service to everyone. Ireland is seeking resolutions that support this continual effort to improve the standard of living in all nations.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Israel
Delegate Name: Betsy Hensel
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School

Access to healthcare for citizens is a fundamental right. Providing proper health care for citizens is a reliable method to ensure internal and international prosperity. The State of Israel holds proper health care in high esteem. Israel signed and ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which outlines the rights of health entitled to all global citizens and has fully upheld the integrity of the treaty. Israel made great strides in providing Israelis with universal and complete health care with the National Health Insurance Law of 1955. The law provides that: each citizen is required by law to have health care in the form of a basket of services, health care must be of high quality, within reasonable distance of the patient, and within a reasonable time frame. Also, the health care provided is under constant government supervision with the Ministry of Health, and any citizen dissatisfied may file a complaint. This law is applicable only to legal citizens of Israel and residents of Palestine with a legal permit from Israel, which are liberally issued. Therefore, the law is not relevant to recent immigrants. By enacting such a generous and holistic law, Israel fully believes in the human right to health care. By providing universal health care, longevity has increased, medical infrastructure has made significant developments, and Israel has become a world leader in provision of health care. Israel acknowledges and appreciates the numerous countries around the world that have adopted universal health care as a signal in their faith of health care as a human right, and encourages more countries to enact such legislation.

The State of Israel therefore calls upon the United Nations to encourage member-states to adopt complete health care systems for citizens. In addition, it is necessary that a standard be created to establish adequate health care for member-states that have insufficient health care systems. A review of the health care systems is in order as well to ensure proper administration of rights to global citizens.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Italy
Delegate Name: Caroline Sawatzki
School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy

Italy’s healthcare system is notorious for its functionality and ability to provide all citizens with access to healthcare at every level. In fact, the World Health Organization’s most recent health care ranking (2000), Italy’s was ranked at number two out of nearly two hundred nations based on quality of the health care system in each country. It is Italy’s belief that healthcare is a human right, and that every member of society should have the right to access healthcare at any level necessary, and documents such as article 25 of the UDHR (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights) which cites that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including… medical care” and article 12, subsection 2 of the ICESCR (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) which states that “the steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for: … (d) The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness” affirm this belief.

However, when establishing regulations on healthcare, it is important to consider that a system which is functional for one nation may be disastrous for another. Healthcare should be tailored to each nation (or group of nations) specifically, rather than creating blanket policies and regulations which may not truly “cover” certain situations and may be detrimental to the economies of nations who cannot afford to provide access to healthcare for all. Italy hopes to see the establishment of healthcare regulations that ensure the equal and ethical treatment of all citizens in regards to medical care and access to healthcare while paying special attention to the fragility of the economies of developing nations and nations with unstable economies which may indicate an inability to accommodate the cost of providing affordable healthcare to all. A system should be established that works in accordance with the necessities defined by the ICESCR and UDHR and accommodates nations who may not be adequately prepared or equipped to provide the care needed with the assistance of private and publicly-funded organizations. Nations should work as a collective body, as well as independently through national law, to ensure that no population is being neglected or denied proper healthcare because it is at a socioeconomic disadvantage.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Jamaica
Delegate Name: Meredith McKeown
School: Ann Arbor Community High School

Obtaining health care and medical services are an unavoidable part of every individual’s life. Basic health care is provided free to all Jamaican citizens, and private doctors and clinics are also available at an additional cost, or through personal or employee insurance plans. While health care is available to all, prescriptions can be difficult to obtain and seeing an actual doctor can require hours of wait time. In order to combat the challenges associated with access to medicine for Jamaican citizens the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) is introducing a Health card which will, according to Health Minister Dr. Fenton Ferguson, “allow ways access to specific medication at no cost”. A vital, essential, and necessary (or VEN) list was also recently established, which should improve access to health care services for Jamaicans. This card will display the individual’s level of health care coverage, any conditions they have, along with any private insurance that they own.

The development of primary health care in Jamaica began with abolition of the slave trade, the collapse of estate-based services after emancipation and the subsequent establishment of the Island Medical Services in 1875. Jamaica was integral in the development of the World Health Organization's Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care, tabling the "Jamaican Perspective on Primary Health Care" which set out its goal that all citizens should be within 10 miles walking distance of a primary health care facility. At the close of the twentieth century, the health reform process led to the development of regional health authorities aimed at integrating the management of primary and secondary care under four Regional Boards of Health. This has led to a change in the role of the central Ministry of Health to one of policy-making, health promotion, setting standards, monitoring and evaluation of the quality of health care.

In order to provide Jamaican citizens with access to health care, we must continue to work towards creating medical facilities within walking distance for all. Jamaica also is working towards reforming the basic health care system, therefore decreasing the need for more expensive privatized insurance. The delegation of Jamaica strives to increase the standard of health care through employing more doctors from the private sector, therefore decreasing the divide between governmental provided health services and individually provided services. Jamaica has already begun this process, providing citizens with a health card to display their insurance and prescriptions and by also creating a VEN list which also works to improve accessibility to medical services.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Japan
Delegate Name: Wenliang Ma
School: Fishers High School

Japan believes that healthcare is necessary and should be a part of all human’s rights. However rights of citizens must first be protected. Japan welcomes all ethnic groups to live in Japan. However disruption of daily life and cultures should not be permitted. A country is owned by the citizens of the nation. Japan thus thinks that each country should best decide which level of healthcare is best for its citizens. However Japan does not deny that universal healthcare no matter how little or small should be provided by all countries. To ensure this Japan believes that first a minimum standard of healthcare should be set, and second nations should work together to improve social conditions globally.

Japan believes that with the rising life expectancy in certain countries, healthcare is becoming a more pressing problem. Without healthcare citizens of a country may find themselves unable to support themselves. In order to qualify for aid from bigger countries, small countries would have to show dedication towards their own social wellbeing by supply a portion of government spending towards social welfare. Although Japan knows that not all countries can meet healthcare qualifications for all, Japan thinks that a guideline would be good for the future benefit of the world.

By producing healthcare for all, citizens would not find themselves unable to work. Emergencies happen and it is the government’s job to take care of its citizens. By providing healthcare, governments are preventing further catastrophe when something goes wrong. For instance if many people were laid off at once, what would these people do without their job sponsored healthcare? These people would have to pay out of pocket further putting them in debt. Although the government would have to pay more in order to support so many citizens with some kind of healthcare. Japan believes that it is in most countries favor to provide global healthcare.

The greatest problem so far is that not all countries believe it is their duty to provide healthcare. Rising taxes could be a huge concern for citizens but japan believes that the pros of global healthcare far outweigh its cons. Certain countries particularly third world countries would oppose this, since they do not have too much surplus revenue for healthcare spending. Also first world countries could oppose this since the idea of giving away money to small countries could be seen as unfavorable. But the main goal of this is to stabilize countries. By providing healthcare to everyone, accidents and emergencies would have a lesser impact on vital sectors.

Healthcare is a human right and everyone should be able to obtain a certain degree of it. Countries should provide their citizens with at least a small degree of healthcare to protect from uncertain circumstances. The United Nations should make a charter to persuade all nations to provide healthcare. Big countries could lend a hand to dedicated small countries.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Jordan
Delegate Name: Justin Keyes
School: Mattawan High School

Shouldn't everyone have the basic right of living healthy. Then, why do not all countries have health care for all of their peoples. While health care systems in countries are only that countries business, the United Nations should push for having more countries supporting health care to their people.

Jordan is well known for having one of the most modern health care systems in the Middle East. Jordan is committed to making healthcare serves accessible and available to all. Jordan has been ever growing, trying to help it's people more and more. Throughout time, the risks of child death has decreased every year. In fact, in the year 2005, more than eighty percent of the people of Jordan had health care. Jordan has over hundreds of health clinics and health centers spread throughout the country.

Jordan would like to push for having all countries to have healthcare. As it should be each countries duty to protect and help it's people. After all, if the Government does not protect and help its people, then why should those people stay. It would be for the best of anyone and everyone across the globe if health care is pushed as a human right. While Jordan is aware that the United Nations can not force countries to change their ways, Jordan hopes and wishes that the United Nations will push new reforms, allowing for health care to become an equal right shared through out the world. Overall, Jordan would like to push for equal rights of health care for everyone and anyone across the globe.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Lesotho
Delegate Name: Bryant Hepp
School: Kalamazoo Central High School

The right to healthcare is as polarizing an issue as it is complex and multifaceted. While Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966) clearly states that all persons have the right to enjoy the highest attainable standards of health by ensuring access to an adequate healthcare infrastructure, the covenant does not explain how this right is to be interpreted or enforced. It is each member's duty—as a representative of their people and of the world—to address this issue in a responsible manner that respects the views of all nations present.

As a nation deeply dedicated to providing health services for its people, Lesotho is open to reasonable discourse on the subject of healthcare. The Basotho people, as well as their government, believe in free and competent access to healthcare as a right of all citizens. However, the Kingdom of Lesotho also sympathizes with underdeveloped and developing nations around the world, and recognizes that a mandate for governments to provide accessible healthcare may not be efficient or effective. While Lesotho invests nearly 10% of its GDP in healthcare for its citizens, the increasing severity of the AIDS pandemic has lowered life expectancy from 59 years in 1990 to 45 in 2010. Nearly one out of every four Basotho is infected with the HIV virus, and population growth has declined to less than 1%. Additionally, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) is expected to see a financing gap of over 95 million dollars by 2013 for the treatment of AIDS/HIV alone. If the United Nations is to demand extraordinary performance from developing nations, it is imperative that well-to-do member states also provide extraordinary resources for developing nations to access.

The Kingdom of Lesotho has much to gain from clarifying the rules and regulations surrounding the right to healthcare and healthcare access. It is important, however, that the global community take note of cases—such as Lesotho’s own— in which extraneous circumstances override the government’s obvious attempts to improve both the access and condition of healthcare in their nation. This prudent yet optimistic approach to the status of healthcare as a human right is expected to appeal to other countries with a high HIV/AIDS prevalence rate (such as Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe) and nations which spend a relatively high percentage of gross domestic product on providing healthcare for their citizens (such as Norway, Belgium, Canada, France, and the United States). Lesotho looks to this committee to address the legitimate concerns of each nation's government as well as its people, and to agree to a practical and implementable solution for all member states.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Madagascar
Delegate Name: Ben Goldberg
School: Roeper School

Healthcare is a major issue in Madagascar. The problem is that Madagascar has a very low debt, about 5% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in attempting to meet IMF (International Monetary Fund) loan requirements. To comply with IMF debt requirements Madagascar has made significant governmental cuts to social welfare programs, including healthcare. Since we have been strongly advised to keep our debt low, the government of Madagascar has limited ability to provide sufficient healthcare for its citizens. As a result, currently providing healthcare as a human right is very problematic.

To provide basic healthcare for the greatest amount of citizen at the lowest cost, Madagascar needs to call upon the assistance of developed countries in conjunction with support from the WHO (World Health Organization) and influential NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organization). The areas that Madagascar needs support to provide the greatest benefit to its citizens would be assistance with infant and maternal care, infectious disease control and vaccinations. The specific diseases to control and vaccinate against where appropriate would be Malaria, Dengue Fever, Tuberculosis, and HIV.

Most African countries are in a similar situation as Madagascar. Few nations can afford sufficient healthcare due to international lending bodies’ debt requirements. Other African countries such as Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia might not have the same issue with affording healthcare but they cannot supply it to the countries citizens due to their general lack of wealth. Madagascar, these and other African and LED (Lesser Economically Developed) nations share the same interests in giving their citizens healthcare. We are concerned about disease spreading and what is already big issue becoming a bigger one. These countries need aid from developed countries in order to obtain healthcare and prevent common diseases throughout the country.

Madagascar is willing to work with all nations to find a solution to this problem of “Healthcare as a Human Right”. We feel this is one of the most pressing issue for developing countries today and strongly hope we can make progress on this pressing issue.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Malawi
Delegate Name: Amelia Stecker
School: Royal Oak High School

With the circulations new diseases and contagions, the world creates a distinction between countries who are able to protect their population and countries who cannot. Developed countries prosper with convenient and prepared hospitals, and therefore are able to sustain an effective program to provide health care. The citizens of these countries who can afford to establish the right for health care would benefit from the potential enforcement for their government to supply it; however, those who suffer are the citizens of countries who are unable to supply the right for health care. These developing governments are incapable to execute health care programs due to lack of revenue, organization, and appropriate methods to distribute such services. While the utmost priority is to maintain a health care right for all UN members, it can be identified as unrealistic due to the poverty and dismal organization of developing countries.

Malawi stands beside nations who wish to provide but cannot afford healthcare for its citizens. Fighting a war against disease, this nation struggles to provide service for hospitality and solutions for such sicknesses such as cholera, AIDS, tuberculosis, and African trypanosomiasis. Our government infrastructure is not sufficient enough to distribute aid to suffering victims. With overcrowded, understaffed, ill-equipped hospitals, Malawi lacks the basic equipment and medicine to revitalize the health within its nation. The government system for health care is designed in a three-level network of medical facilities. Free of charge, most medical cases go into the system via the most convenient rural hospital, the lowest tier in the system. No surgeons, doctors, and very few nurses are employed on the staff for any kind of surgical procedures—so, such possibilities remain out of the question. The entire government-run hospital system in Malawi serves to assist to top level first, second level, and then the third level—the rural hospitals, last. Often, supplies are only available to the first and second levels, leaving the rural hospitals, though they are the most used, to little or no supplies to serve any medical assistance to the people. There are even very few doctors or nurses in the top level of the hospital system who can assist with the growing contaminations of disease. It is unrealistic to expect that Malawi and its government can maintain an efficient process that will uphold the right for all of its population to health care; for we will be incapable of not only the funding for the equipment for such measures with medical care and vaccinations, but considering the poor regulation and systems within the levels of health care facilities, we will also be incapable of performing revival of the nation’s health and well-being.

The objective within the Ministry of Health in Malawi are to raise the health level by reducing the death occurrences of death and contaminations in the population. By developing a secure delivery system that is capable of preventing, curing, and reducing disease, and by protecting life and the well-being, the objective can be accomplished. It is unacceptable that Malawi should, under a UN requirement, be required to entitle its citizens to the right to healthcare, when it is already a luxury to receive such medical care. Since most of the graduate doctors and nurses from the Malawi Medical School leave the country to practice, Malawi is deprived of appropriate staffing that can cure such a devastating rate of disease; its system relies on organizations such as Mission Malawi, the Malawi Project, and Healing Hands International, who have served to guide and aid Malawi’s hospital system with serving all citizens in need. Therefore, such actions within these organizations are accepted and appreciated. In order to execute a right to health care, Malawians first need to be supported by a more efficient process of medical hospitalization from not only the Malawian government, but also will and able nations who view the destructive death rate and its improvement as a priority.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Mongolia
Delegate Name: Mike Miller
School: Royal Oak High School

As Mongolia, we believe that healthcare should be a right given to every human being. In the 20th century so far, most Mongolians have had access to health care. This, I might add has been partly because of the fact that we have free health care and the fact that most of our physicians were trained in either Russia of the former East Germany.

We believe that if it can be managed, free health care should be provided for all, by the government. While we recognize that some governments may have debt, not enough money, etc, there is always an alternative to no healthcare at all. The three largest killers in Mongolia are cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms (an abnormal growth of body tissue), and Injury/Poisoning (World Health Organization report). With better health care, we could treat or cure patients with precision accuracy as in labs. Another problem is that 'as extreme poverty increased, so too did the need for free, basic services, but these were precisely what were being cut.' (Working Paper – Natasha Sawh – Negotiation on the Ground: Realizing Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in South Africa, Nigeria and Peru). But enough with all the problems. Let's talk about solutions.

One solution may be to raise funds for countries with less than enough to pay for health care. Since we cannot command funds or dip into a central fund, we will have to ask for them. As Mongolia, we would vote for a resolution that would help at least put building blocks in place for free health care.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Morocco
Delegate Name: Kelly Perrin
School: Mattawan High School

Healthcare as a human right is a highly debated issue that has many sides. Many see healthcare as a human right because humans have a right to life and a standard of living to attain health. Others don't see healthcare as a human right because, for many states, it is difficult to provide full healthcare to all of its citizens. Costs for such measures are hard to make room for at this stage in the game. Some states agree that healthcare is a human right, but to what degree is the question they ask. What can they come through with for all its people? Leaving these specifications open to interpretation can cause exploitation, loop-holes, and underhanded dealings. Like many difficult topics, healthcare circumstances vary so widely that concrete laws are hard to set down permanently, and much is left to the discretion of the provider.

At this point, Morocco lacks many of the facilities, technologies, and resources to provide healthcare to its entire population. Many of the healthcare facilities in Morocco are poorly maintained and inadequately equipped to meet the capacity of required medical care. The health budget is only 1.1% percent of the GDP, but 5.5% of the central government budget. Over the years, the maternal mortality rate has gone down from 383 in 1990 to 110 in 2012. This shows a step up for health in Morocco, but whether it is from better healthcare or the eradication of prenatal diseases is unsure; however, most likely it is a result of both. Morocco feels that in order to make healthcare a human right, action must be taken to provide more funding for healthcare and, in the future, make healthcare available to its citizens.

Ultimately, in a utopia, healthcare would be provided for all and never questioned. Unfortunately, in the reality of the world, healthcare as a right is often not an option for many developing countries. Funding is an important factor that many countries must consider when looking at healthcare for their state. The gray area that is healthcare can also be seen as an obstacle. It's quite an endeavor for a nation to take up as make costly problems can arise.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Netherlands
Delegate Name: Hailey Albert
School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy

Health care is something that a nation needs to provide to citizens in order to grow. Some nations would grow more efficiently if their countries were not plagued by disease. Health care should be a human right because citizens of a nation are all a nation has. If people are not pleased then they are being cared for they may leave, making a country lose valuable resources. Though, we think that everyone should have health care and that there should be fines for people who don’t have health care.

Defining what is health care is a must to enforce that all people should have health care. In The Netherlands we have a basic health care package that all citizens must have. Our policy includes physicians, hospital stays, pharmaceuticals, and psychiatric care. There should be more than one option for citizens; that is to help drive the price of care can be competitive to benefit the consumers. We are using the word “citizen” very loosely, any person who come to the Netherlands has to get health insures if they are visiting for more than four months or they will be find thirty percent of the first years cost for a basic package on top of the cost of the basic package.

Nations need to avoid monopolies and oligopoly of companies that provide health care insurance and health care services. We, the people, need options because more options give more competition. The best way to do this is to have strong government interaction and monitoring the behavior of companies, the United Nations should not have to monitor this, instead it should be the nation’s responsibilities. The government should be very involved in the health care, and provide the frame work for what has to be provided as a basic package, but there can be secondary packages that citizens can choose to buy that don’t need to be as strictly monitored.

Health insurers only work with certain companies, which is why countries have the right to deny noncitizens health care, because that specific person have to cover the cost, and there is no efficient way to make sure that that noncitizen person will pay, so the government would have to cover the cost. Nations may not want to change how their health care functions because the starting cost would be very high for the government, but the cost will decrease the longer that the health care system is around the cheaper it becomes.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Nigeria
Delegate Name: Jordan Vuckovich
School: Mattawan High School

1)Healthcare is arguably one of the most important rights one possesses. It is essential that every human being on earth is entitled to being able to live a life where they can maintain their health and be able to live life without the constant threat of a simple disease or injury killing them. However healthcare as a human right is threatened in today's world. Not every country believes in this, and it is often forgotten. This problem is constantly seen throughout many countries most famously in Africa.

2)Nigeria takes a limited role in its nations healthcare. Healthcare in Nigeria is mainly handled by private companies. At the federal level Nigeria is mainly out of the picture. However at the State level, the State Government manages hospitals. This in part due to Nigeria's mixed economy. Only about 1.5% of Nigeria GDP goes to healthcare.

3)There are many possible solutions to Nigeria's problem. One such way to solve their ailing healthcare system would be to simply fund it better. With only 1.5% of its GDP going to healthcare, its funding is way to low to make a big effect on the people. Also the Federal Government could play a bigger role with its healthcare systems and focus more on it. Lastly, Nigeria's Government needs to implement systems where each person is being checked for to ensure that all citizens are getting equal treatment with each issue.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: North Korea
Delegate Name: Phil Erickson
School: Williamston High School

1)Healthcare is an argued topic in many areas of the world. The United States has proposed a national healthcare plan called Obamacare. Many nations have wonderful healthcare plans as others do not. The DPRK does have a wonderful healthcare plan.

2)The DPRK’s healthcare is national and run by the state. Our people are very grateful for the number one healthcare system in the world. We have even been defended by the UN while countries try to say we do not have an effective healthcare plan. Once again, we see how countries are jealous of our wonderful achievements. Especially the U.S., who are trying to replicate our successful healthcare with their own.

3)Although our healthcare plan is the best in the world we will not stop improving it, if possible. We will continue to train our doctors to be the best. We do not want corruption from Western imperialists. We will allow for certain UN members to observe our glorious healthcare plan if they must as long as they do not corrupt the perfection we have worked so hard to attain.

DPRK

Topic 1: Rights of immigrants

Rights of immigrants are a pressing issue all over the world. In many places all over the world travelers are losing their privileges and being persecuted. In many countries in Africa such as Libya travelers have been used as hostages. This is also an occurrence in the Middle East.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is very satisfied with their people. We prefer to keep out the evil Western imperialists. Immigrants are scarcely allowed to keep the DPRK from being corrupted. Immigrants who are allowed are treated with the upmost respect. The DPRK is the best country in the world and other nations should attempt to come close to our policies.

The DPRK only looks to show other nations by example how to treat immigrants. We are not sure how many countries we can expect to see taking our perfection kindly. Jealousy of other nations is setting a great rift and only furthering from world peace. The Western imperialists are not doing their part and need to learn their place.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Norway
Delegate Name: Zachary Shannon
School: Mattawan High School

Healthcare, within recent decades, has become a rapidly growing concern throughout the international community. Many nations exist without healthcare and are suffering from numerous deadly diseases. Those countries that do have healthcare, however, are rapidly falling into financial debt through mishandling of the healthcare system. Many countries need to realise that healthcare is a human right because all people deserve to be treated, not just those who can afford it.

The Kingdom of Norway offers a comprehensive and rather straightforward model that has been very successful and helpful to its citizens over the years.. It provides universal healthcare to all of its citizens. Not just the poor, the wealthy, immigrants or natural citizens. Everyone, no matter what, is given a basic level of healthcare. This is a model that has been successful and should be implemented elsewhere because it helps to promote the health of a country’s citizens.

The Kingdom of Norway realizes that not every nation can provide healthcare to all of its citizens at the moment. Developing countries and those in financial ruin are just not able to provide universal healthcare at the moment. However, The Kingdom of Norway wishes to encourage these countries to strive for universal healthcare so that healthcare is made a human right by offering incentives to do so through the United Nations. The Kingdom of Norway would be willing to align itself with any nation or nations that also believe in this goal.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Pakistan
Delegate Name: Courtney Fox
School: Roeper School

Human rights in Pakistan have come a long way. Today, proper human health care is provided to the people of Pakistan, and is continuing to grow. The Ministry of health of Pakistan plays a big role in developing and improving health care. The Ministry helps support other health service projects such as Malaria Control Project, National Program for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis, Primary Health Care, and The Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) Program. The Ministry also helps run many facilities focused on aiding health care such as Mother and Chile Care Centres, Urban Health Centres, and Basic Health Units.

The President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari stated in the Opening Session of the United Nations General Assembly “We must ensure equal rights to all peoples, and protect the weak & vulnerable” and “We must pursue justice and fairness for all people”. These two statements relate to Pakistan’s goal to have proper health care for the people of the country. Women in Pakistan have been treated unfairly for many generations. In more recent years, many measures have been established to guarantee and promote the rights of women. A National Commission on Women and a National Commission on Human Rights have also been established. Pakistan firmly believes in health care as a human right and that securing rights of women is an important part in guaranteeing health care of women and their families in our society. This was a major success for Pakistan because it helped enforce studies of proper human rights, cope and aid with national and international groups focused on improving human rights, and to prevent violations of human rights.

Pakistan continues to develop new organizations and programs set to aid rights in which people have of health care and overall human rights. The health care system that was adopted after the partition does not even compare to what health care provisions have developed into today. In particular, Pakistan has made significant progress maternal and infant health care as well as eradication of Malaria, although, it still has a long way to go in improving health in these and other areas. Pakistan still has trouble with affording quality health care. We are in need of ongoing assistance of donor nations and donor organizations for assistance with health care initiatives. This would enable Pakistan’s health ministries and medical facilities become successful in providing health care as a human right as a law.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Palestine
Delegate Name: Audrey Gilmour
School: Flint Southwestern Classical Academy

Many countries believe that healthcare is a human right which should be extended to all citizens. There are also many countries that feel healthcare is too large and expensive a system to be required. Though the opinions differ, all of these countries share the common goal of a large and healthy population. Healthcare has been mentioned in several documents such as The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as a human right. However, it is the responsibility of this committee to decide where the lines should be drawn on this issue.

Palestine welcomes the idea of being able to provide for its people. With issues such as infant death rates, a strong health system readily available to all Palestinians would be ideal. However, the population, lack of funding, and inability to break off from Israel hinders any hope for such a health system. According to these complications, Palestine must argue that healthcare should not be required. Defining health care as a human right would be tricky. Each state wants to maintain a healthy population and provide the necessary services to do such. Palestine supports defining healthcare as a human right, it does not support requiring healthcare. Requiring health care would force many burdens on small and developing nations.

To find a resolution that most, if not all, countries could agree on, this committee should examine the possibilities of providing financial aid to those countries in need. We should most certainly define healthcare as a human right. Instead of requiring that all states provide healthcare, in the case that the term is defined as a human right, they should be encouraged to make healthcare available to all citizens. Financial aid should be provided for those countries that do want to make an attempt at creating a universal healthcare system.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Philippines
Delegate Name: Drew Taylor
School: Forest Hills Central High School

Health care is something that everybody needs at some point in their lives. Many people, however, do not have the opportunity to get proper health care. In many undeveloped countries health care is not available. This is simply unacceptable. Any suffer due to the fact that they simply can not pay for or provide sufficient opportunities for cure. Also, in case of emergency like heart attacks, some people are left helpless. With more diseases spreading health care should be made available to all.

Though the Philippines still has high record of drug use and malnutrition, our health care system is still considered to be of good standard. There are many hospitals and offices around the Philippines, as well as trained doctors. We have both private and public health care institutions. We also have stand by ambulances and a hot line for emergencies. Paying for these services can be provided with insurance or other payment.

We believe everybody should have the right to health care. We need the more developed countries to help out in the spread of hospitals and experienced doctors. Also, many underdeveloped countries would need assistance with payment for these medications or services. We need a world wide, central health care system that can be placed in each country to at least provide some help to those in need. If everybody had a right to health care, this world could be much healthier, and many deaths could be avoided.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Portugal
Delegate Name: Karigan Pliml
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School

Health is an area of enormous technological and organizational innovation, increasing development of information and knowledge, social expectations, influence of socio-economic, geopolitical and new health threats with a high degree of uncertainty. It is Portugal’s belief that every person deserves and commands the right to access to healthcare and an improved quality of health services. Portugal is in the process of implementing in its own country the same system that it believes should be an international goal of healthcare. The nation of Portugal has recently finished the planning step of the National Health Plan 2012-2016 and is now entering the implementation phase.

Portugal looks to improve international healthcare in the same way that it is currently improving its own. Portugal is looking to train and empower staff in their mission to obtain health gains, establishing a position with these framing, assessment, valuation and recognition of their individual contribution and networking, in a constructive and dynamic manner. The objective is to pursue health gains, around which are proposed national and regional targets, a process that intends to organize the health system around common objectives and articulated at national, regional, local and institutional. Responsibility for monitoring and evaluation, allowing the continuous incorporation of new evidence, advice, information, analysis, best practice and description of national and international policies is vital.

The issue of healthcare as a human right should be a top priority in this assembly. Providing universal healthcare for all nations—developed, developing, or otherwise—is a vital step in aiding the well-being of all nations.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Russia
Delegate Name: Macey Gerster
School: Fishers High School

We, the Russian Federation, recognize the importance of a universal health plan and the benefits that it can bring to our country. We understand that the lives of our citizens and the strength of our country would improve significantly with the modernization of our healthcare systems and enforcements of these policies across the nation. Every citizen of the Russian Federation as well as every human being disserves the right to a healthy lifestyle and access to doctors and medicines. As a nation we also recognize the fact that our healthcare systems are weak and are in need of improvement. We are willing to look upon the ideas of other nations to help us better model our healthcare systems. This in return should help us improve our country and the lives of our citizens. We, the Russian Federation, believe that access to health care should be defined as having responsible and trained doctors, nurses, and pharmacists is necessary for healthcare to be accessible to our people.

Many states choose not to recognize the importance of healthcare. We, the Russian Federation, are struggling with our own healthcare policies due to the fact that we ignored them and underestimated their value to our nation. Now we are paying the price after suffering from preventable epidemics and experiencing drops in life expectancy that is unacceptable for a nation of our financial state. It is important to learn from these mistakes in order to fix them. We as a nation are now working harder to improve our medical facilities and the availability of doctors and medicines to our citizens. Other countries should learn from us the importance of establishing a strong healthcare system before the citizens of the state are negatively affected.

In order to fulfill the right to healthcare, the access to doctors and medicines is necessary. On a local level all of our citizens should have access to the basic health care officials and medicines. These would include trained nurses, basic family doctors, and midwives. We, the Russian Federation, also believe that the creation of hospitals that are accessible to the majority of our citizens is crucial for the improvement of our healthcare system. In these hospitals research can be done and people can get specialized help form well trained doctors as needed. In addition to these things, we believe that a wider government support of medical education should be examined and considered. It is important to hire more educated doctors and specialists to help us build up our developing healthcare system.

A state should be required to provide a solid foundation for a healthcare system. We believe that the state should provide some means of healthcare to its citizens. These healthcare systems will be funded by the state and will be centered on the overall need of the nation and its citizens. We, the Russian Federation, recognize the importance of a healthcare system and we accept the fact that our healthcare systems have not been strong. We are interested in improving these issues in our country and we are ready to look at other nations to model a better healthcare system for the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation would like the United Nations to help create a more stable healthcare solution that will help us as a country profit.

Bibliography:

"Healthcare in Russia." Healthcare in Russia. ALLIANZ WORLDWIDE CARE, 2012. Web. 03 Nov. 2012. <http://www.allianzworldwidecare.com/healthcare-in-russia>.

Kudrin Criticizes Prevalence of Social, Military Spending in Budget." Russia Beyond The Headlines. Ed. Interfax. Interfax, 15 Oct. 2012. Web. 03 Nov. 2012. <http://rbth.ru/articles/2012/10/15/kudrin_criticizes_prevalence_of_social_military_spending_in_budget_19123.html>.

Van Slyke, Jessica. "Russia Profile – Culture & Living – Who Cares?" Http://russiaprofile.org. N.p., 30 Apr. 2012. Web. 03 Nov. 2012. <http://russiaprofile.org/culture_living/58158.html>.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Rwanda
Delegate Name: Nadia Haile
School: Kalamazoo Central High School

Universal health care may seem a stretch to reach but it is not too far. All humans should have health care easily accessible to them. Without health care the quality of living in a country is immensely downgraded. In many countries universal health care is a dream, the costs stopping it from becoming reality. The issue concerning the United Nations is to make healthcare accessible to everyone.

Rwanda has already inherited the concept of health care for all. With AIDs and malaria being wide spread problems in Rwanda. Life expectancy is lower and infant mortality is higher than most countries. Though life expectancy is low it has risen from 48 to 58 in the past ten years. Infant mortality has decrease incredibly. All this is due to the much high health care availability, this is all do to health insurance. Now only about four percent of Rwandans do not have health insurance. This was accomplished through the Access Project. Other countries can implement some of the same policies to grow their own health care system.

For conclusion on this issue this committee should raise money for countries to start universal health insurance. The committee should send human volunteers to some developing countries that do not have enough medics. They should expand medical facilities and the technology in the facilities. The health insurance will help the citizens of the country. The quality of living of the country will greatly increase, causing the country to be more desirable to live in. More people will help the work force and the economy. Though universal health insurance and health care is pricy in the long run it is helpful in more than just one aspect

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: South Africa
Delegate Name: Tracy Scherdt
School: Ann Arbor Community High School

Internationally, the guaranteed right to good health and well being is a standard. It is seen as a basic human right to acquire a certain standard of living in concerns to both the health and care of oneself and one’s family. The question is raised, however, on whether a state can guarantee a right and not be responsible for upholding this guarantee. Many believe it is a state’s responsibility to provide affordable health care, but often times it is an unrealistic expectation. Focusing in on developing countries specifically, it is clear that the state is unable to provide for people’s health care because the resources are not readily available, and will not be available in the foreseeable future. Providing universal access to healthcare is an attainable goal for few countries of the world, so a different approach to health care has to be established for those countries in which universal access is hardly a sensible solution.

Money and funds are the main resources that determine whether a state can provide healthcare and to what extent. South Africa believes that every country should provide for the common welfare and health to the extent that is most possible in relation to their resources. Wealthy countries should take it upon themselves to attempt to establish a government funded healthcare system for the underprivileged and, if possible, take it a step further and provide for the middle class family as well. It is a country's responsibility to see the health of their citizens being looked after, whether that be providing healthcare or maintaining government programs to further the advancement of health. In poorer regions of the world, it is simply not a realistic goal to provide healthcare to all of the people. The best that they can do is what should be done with what limited resources they have. South Africa urges the World Health Organization (WHO), among other UN agencies, to supplement this work. The first step for developing nations is to recognize healthcare as a human right. They might deny this right in order to push away the responsibility that comes with the upholding of human rights. South Africa firmly affirms that international acknowledgment of healthcare as an human right is crucial. Every person deserves a certain basic standard of living in our international community.

South Africa has been working to establish a national health insurance system within the national health care system in an attempt to eliminate unequal access to healthcare among the different socioeconomic groups of their diverse country. This system will hopefully institute a National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) drawn from general taxes and other health insurance contributions. South Africa suggests that other countries take initiative in creating programs and systems that benefit the greater portion of the population, rather than only the wealthy or able. A basic human right, healthcare is the essential social insurance for persons of every socioeconomic background to rightfully be treated for a healthy standard of living. It is the UN's duty to ensure that the people of the world are given their right to good health.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: South Korea
Delegate Name: Ellen Everett
School: Fishers High School

Healthcare today tends to only be available to the people who can afford it. To have healthcare as a human right is very difficult to achieve in this economically struggling time, and to be able to cover every person with healthcare is just wishful thinking. Many people cannot afford healthcare at all in certain areas of the world, some can just barely afford it, and others do not have to worry about losing their healthcare. In countries with varying people like this, it becomes difficult to decide whether or not healthcare as a human right is the correct thing to do for the people of their countries, because this would end up being quite costly to countries that are not in good economic situations, or do not have the means to give every citizen of their country healthcare.

Being able to give every person healthcare in case of sickness is a goal that the Republic of Korea wishes to be able to achieve alone. This tends to be a goal for most nations with a decent economy, but for other countries that are in turmoil, it is hard to even consider this. An idea that would prove most helpful for these countries, who cannot afford to give all of their citizens some sort of healthcare, would be to have a worldwide healthcare plan in place. This healthcare would be based upon the economic strength of each country. Countries such as the Republic of Korea would donate as much as they wished to give to countries who are struggling to have a healthcare system in place. Not to forget that each country has national sovereignty, countries can decide whether or not they will accept the donations if they are in need of a better healthcare system, and countries that can afford a good healthcare system can decide whether or not they want to even donate. This would be a worldwide healthcare system that would only be used by the countries who wish to donate or receive donations. To add on to the worldwide healthcare, each country will still keep their healthcare systems in place, and will be able to take care of this issue on their own; adding a worldwide healthcare system is only an idea to help support countries in desperate need of healthcare.

The Republic of Korea believes that these ideas may not be the best choices for each country and also believes that healthcare as a human right is not something that can be achieved so quickly, so this issue of healthcare as a human right will have to be discussed further with the committee. South Korea also wishes to discuss with the committee about how to keep the healthcare systems stable in the world without impeding on the national sovereignty of a country.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Switzerland
Delegate Name: Matt Cornell
School: Forest Hills Central High School

It is a basic human right to get health care. Everybody will eventually get sick or injured and need medical attention. Health care in Switzerland is available to everyone. Health care is regulated in Switzerland by The Federal Health Insurance Act of 1994. They insure that everyone gets health care. To apply for health care one must live in Switzerland for only six months before they can receive it.

No one should be denied health care. Switzerland believes that health care is universal and everybody deserves it. Some people do not have the money for health care, let alone enough money to get by, that is why the government needs to provide these medical services to them. The health care must provide the basic health needs. Such needs would include medicines, checkups, shots/immunizations, hospital visits etc. Other countries, if they have not done so already, need to make health care a human right in their country.

Switzerland's health care system allows one to choose an insurance company out of ninety others, all of which are non profit and can only obtain profit by selling supplementary upgrades which would allow you your own hospital room. All of these insurance companies offer the basic health needs. Citizens are required to buy their insurance directly, but to fund the health care system the swiss government will subsidise for anything that succeeds more than 8 – 10% of the person's annual income. This insures that no one is paying too much for something they can not afford.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: United States
Delegate Name: Sarah Rusinowski
School: Royal Oak High School

The first thing that this committee must recognize is that our goal is to define healthcare as a right, not to provide healthcare. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a human right as legally protected by a government and cannot be waived or taken away. Human rights protect individuals and groups against actions that interfere with fundamental freedoms and human dignity. Based upon this definition, the United States recognizes that governments must not infringe on a citizen’s right to attaining healthcare. It must be made accessible to all, however, attempting to universally provide healthcare is not only impossible for the majority of countries, but will have many drawbacks. It is therefore the United States’ belief that providing healthcare should not be this committee’s goal; rather, we should focus on having basic healthcare needs being accessible to citizens.

Disease burdens an economy. In developing nations, populations are plagued by diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, etc. These countries are unable to finance healthcare, but leaving these people without adequate treatment ultimately ends in a further burdened government and a depleted economy.

Basic healthcare is completely necessary. The United States realizes that reactionary healthcare must be a priority. But with over 300 million citizens, the US government cannot provide free healthcare, and we will not attempt to do so because universal healthcare has shown to result in lower quality care. The financial burden would be crippling to any nation, and lack of finances means no drug research or improvement.

Our committee must be careful as to how we classify healthcare as a human right. If we decide to make our goals unattainable, then governments will be inevitably doomed to violating human rights. Therefore, defining healthcare as a right that cannot be infringed on is in this body’s best interest, and this definition will uphold the principles that have previously been put forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Topic: Healthcare as a Human Right
Country: Zimbabwe
Delegate Name: Kristen Hairston
School: Williamston High School

These days healthcare has become very debatable, whether it be given as a human right or people need to get it themselves and pay for it. We feel that before we talk about healthcare we need to address other needs, like the malnourishment, clean drinking water, and also the spread of AIDS. These particularly apply to us as well as other developing nation. We would like to have a fund set up that will help bring food and clean drinking water into our country as well as a way to educate people on AIDS and figure out ways to contain the virus.

In Zimbabwe the average life expectancy in Zimbabwe is 34 for females and 37 for males. WE have one of the lowest average life expectancy rates in the world. This is due to the fact that our people are malnourished and there is very little clean drinking water. The spread of HIV and AIDS also contribute to the poor life expectancy. Are economy has also been deteriorating leaving us with little we can do for our people. We really need to address these problems before we can address healthcare as a human right. By taking care of these issues it will increase the healthiness of our people allowing them to live longer and also will help Zimbabwe to be more prosperous.

By setting up a fund to help out developing nations like us will allow the people to get better food and clean drinking water instead of the kind that can carry diseases. Also by educating people about the HIV and AIDS virus they will become more aware of the effects and how to protect themselves against it. We hope that China will back us up because of its ties to Africa.