RIGHT TO HEALTH IN AFRICA: AN EXPOSITION

Résumé

Human rights can be ordinarily referred to as natural rights. These are the moral rights that human beings everywhere ought to have simply as human beings with morality and rationality. It is of universal application and is also unchangeable. However, certain rights are treated specially to demonstrate that human beings are special beings and need to be treated fundamentally special. There are several of these fundamental rights of man, but we shall concentrate on the right to health. Everyone has the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The World Health Organization recognizes the right to health as one of the fundamental rights of every human being, without any form of distinction based on race, religion, and political belief, economic or social condition. Right to health does not function in isolation, other basic human rights have to be put in place, such as access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, nutritious foods (safe food), adequate nutrition and housing, health-related education and information, gender equality and safe environment. The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Banjul Charter) also recognizes the right of every individual to enjoy the best attainable state of physical and mental health and urges every state to take measures to protect the health of their people. In Africa today, is this right to health a myth or reality? Do African states provide sufficiently for their citizens as to guarantee their right to health? In this work, we shall consider some African states as per their observance of their citizens’ rights to health. This shall be carried out by appraising the constitutional provisions of these African states.