# In Review: Health and Human Rights Book Talk April 09, 2020 One usually envisions human rights in masses—protests erupting from Bogotá, Colombia to Hong Kong—gathering due to issues of seminal significance, around epicenters of historical importance. Human rights issues are not only a large group of people being denied basic, fundamental rights; the affliction is simultaneously individual, isolating, and deeply personal. It colors the lens through which women view their bodies and selects which families can be separated or reunited. Combined with another all-pervading phenomenon—that is, one’s health—one can see how human rights shape every aspect of the world in which we live. In her latest book, [*When Misfortune Becomes Injustice*](https://www.sup.org/books/law/when-misfortune-becomes-injustice), Senior Scholar in Residence, Alicia Ely Yamin, remarks on the uplifting progress that we’ve made and the collective work still to be done. To contextualize both the progress and challenges, experts across the field of public health, law, and human rights convened for [a book talk](https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/events/details/book-talk-human-rights-struggles-for-health-and-social-equality) organized by the Harvard Law School Library and [Global Health and Rights Partnership](https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/global-health-and-rights-project/)—a collaboration between the Incubator and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. The question that panelists discussed is one that most public health experts wrestle with: Where do we go from here? Expert panelists included scholars from Boston College and Harvard University, including GHELI’s Faculty Director [Dr. Sue J. Goldie](https://gheli.harvard.edu/people/sue-j-goldie-md-mph). Goldie offered a perspective which brought two worlds together, as a decision scientist who uses mathematical models to simulate individual decisions and outcomes, and a global health professor who considers large populations and broader contexts. After an introduction on the book by Yamin, Goldie alluded to a group of ten girls from all over the world, a sample population she uses as a case study for her undergraduate class each year. To the audience, she asked the same question she asks her Harvard College students: Which of these girls has the most opportunity? The answer, she clarified, is influenced by the choices that a girl is able to make for herself in her given environment—proving that public health, human rights, and social justice are integrated. The consensus of the panel was that an essential question must be addressed: How can we bring human rights back to the individuals, rather than keeping the power concentrated within the institutions? Human rights have increasingly been viewed as a set of rules only international treaties and conventions can mend, but Yamin calls for a shift in the ways people are able to reclaim their power. However, this does not let governments off the hook; they, too, have a responsibility to oversee wealth distribution mechanisms and ensure medicines are provided to those who need them. The endeavor for realizing human rights remains constant; we can always do better. It is important to know how we’ve gotten here, for which we must cross-examine the history of health and human rights. Although progress cannot always be captured in technicalities, metrics and measurements can serve as milestone markers to see how far we’ve come, while we simultaneously acknowledge the limitations that exist in the tools and resources that we have. To improve the current state of affairs, it is essential to ensure that knowledge is no longer siloed, for people’s freedoms and opportunities are not solely to be addressed by human rights activists and lawyers, and people’s health cannot just be the responsibility of doctors. The lawyers must talk to the doctors, who speak with youth, who speak with community organizers, who speak to economists, who speak with mothers, who then come together with community members to bring solutions that work best. After all, the journey down an unpaved road begins with a single step. To understand some of the tricky nuances in health and human rights, [explore GHELI’s Resource Pack: Health and Human Rights](https://repository.gheli.harvard.edu/repository/collection/resource-pack-health-and-human-rights). Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)