The right to health

The right to health care (the term of the Russian Constitution), the right to medical care (the term UDHR ) or the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (the term ICESCR ) is one of the second generation human rights. Also enshrined in the European Social Charter (Article 11).

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights identifies the following elements of the right to health:

• the availability of institutions, goods, services, relevant programs, including infrastructure, trained and paid personnel, and essential medicines.
• accessibility (non-discrimination, physical accessibility, economic accessibility, accessibility of information)
• acceptability (in terms of medical ethics, cultural criteria, gender and lifestyle requirements, and focus on confidentiality and improving health)
• quality (scientific and medical acceptability and high quality, including the availability of qualified medical personnel, scientifically tested and suitable medicines and medical equipment, safe drinking water and adequate sanitation) ^[1]

In the Constitution of the USSR of 1936, article 120 provided for free medical assistance to workers as a means of realizing the right to material support in old age, in case of illness and disability. US President F. Roosevelt in 1944 called for legislatively enshrining the right to medical care in the "Second Bill of Rights" ^[2] .