HEPS News - Press Releases

A report released today by HEPS Uganda and partner organisations in the Uganda Health Equity Network (UHEN) entitled “Right to Health: A Civil Society Perspective on the 12th Annual Report of the Uganda Human Rights Commission”, has criticised Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) for taking a narrow approach in reporting on the status of the Right to Health in Uganda.

Noting that the UHRC report is a key tool and an opportunity to inform Parliament on the state of the Right to Health in Uganda, the civil society organisations are concerned that the Uganda Human Rights Commission’s silence on the key determinants of health and the country’s emerging public health challenges suggests that it is not doing enough to fulfil its mandate of promoting and monitoring human rights in the country.
The HEPS/UHEN report, analysing the Commission’s most recent  report to Parliament, points out that UHRC’s 12th report inexplicably does not report the impact on health of trade, the proposed health insurance scheme, climate change, urbanisation, environmental degradation and similar socio-economic determinants of health.
The Right to Health, as defined in General Comment 14 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,  is an “inclusive right extending not only to timely and appropriate health care but also to the underlying determinants of health, such as access to safe and potable water and adequate sanitation, an adequate supply of safe food, nutrition and housing, healthy occupational and environmental conditions, and access to health-related education and information, including on sexual and reproductive health.”
This broad definition is reflected in UHRC’s tool for monitoring and reporting on the right to health, but HEPS/UHEN have found that the Commission failed to use its own tool in writing the 12th annual human rights report.
“It is evident that the 12th Report used a very narrow interpretation of the right to health, yet the commission has a comprehensive tool kit that if used would have given a true picture of the state of health rights in Uganda,” says Lydia Mukombe, a Programme Manager at HEPS Uganda.
The civil society is also concerned that the Commission’s recommendations on what needs to be followed-up are not specific on which government agency needs to take action to fill the identified gaps.
HEPS/UHEN recommend that the UHRC broaden its approach to reporting the Right to Health and report the status and issues in the utilisation of funds allocated for the Minimum Health Care Package; appropriate laws on access to medicines and other health commodities; and also put emphasis on social determinants of health.
“It does not make sense to treat people with cholera and then send them back to live in the same conditions that made them sick in the first place” says Rosette Mutambi, Executive Director of HEPS Uganda. “Therefore conditions that make people sick must be reported in order for Uganda to plan for and address these concerns” adds Mutambi.
The Civil Society wants UHRC to engage health and health-related stakeholders more widely in drafting the next annual human rights report.
ENDS.
Contacts
Rosette Mutambi – Executive Director, HEPS Uganda. Cell: +256 701 735828, Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it    Or 
Mulwanyi Lydia Mukombe – Manager Community Empowerment Programme, HEPS Uganda. Cell: +256 701 043339, Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Office Tel: +256 414 270970
Website: www.heps.or.ug
Notes for the editor
UHRC, as the National Human Rights Institution, has a constitutional mandate to promote and monitor human rights in Uganda. Article 52(2) of the 1995 Constitution requires UHRC to compile and submit to Parliament reports on the state of human rights and freedoms in the country annually.
The HEPS/UHEN report analyses Chapter 7 (Health as a Human Right) of the 2009 report, which was released in October 2010.