IFHHRO Regional Meeting, Mumbai 2006

Monitoring the Right to Health in Asia: Towards a (sub)regional network

For the first time, a regional IFHHRO networking meeting took place in Asia. The meeting was organized by IFHHRO's Asian Regional Focal Point, CEHAT (Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes) in Mumbai, India, from 1-3 December 2006. The aim was to develop a network to monitor the Right to Health in Asia. IFHHRO views the interaction between health and human rights organisations and associations of health professionals as essential to the development of a network that is able to effectively monitor the Right to Health at different levels in Asia.

The participants included representatives of various health and human rights organisations, key representatives of the medical profession (including the President of the Malaysian Medical Association and the President of the Indian Association of Medical Consultants) and a representative of the Indian National Human Rights Council. The participants came from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Pakistan and Vietnam. Furthermore, the Senior Research Officer to Paul Hunt, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, and the Human Rights Officer of WHO Vietnam attended the meeting.

The meeting involved a combination of training and networking activities, with the dual goals of creating a network to monitor the Right to Health in Asia and simultaneously to strengthen the capacity of organisations in Asia to monitor the Right to Health. At the end of the meeting, the participants came to a consensus on the activities that are to be taken towards establishing such a network. A follow-up meeting has been scheduled for May 2007.

A background paper provided participants with an overview of the right to health; what it means for an organisation to adopt a rights-based approach to health; and how organisations and individuals may become involved in monitoring the right to health.

Report (PDF)