Preventing Childhood Obesity - Evidence Policy and Practice.pdf

CHAPTER 5
A h uman r ights a pproach to c hildhood
o besity p revention
Naomi Priest, 1 Boyd Swinburn 2 and Elizabeth Waters 1
1 Jack Brockoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program, McCaughey Centre, Melbourne
School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
2 WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia
Summary
• Three sets of human rights are relevant to childhood
obesity: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
( UNCROC ), the right to adequate food, and the
right to health.
• Within UNCROC, the “developmental rights ”
(right to develop to the fullest and the right to protection
from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation)
are to protect children from circumstances
injurious to their well - being.
• The marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to
children is an example of commercial exploitation
of children.
• The right to adequate food was originally aimed at
preventing undernutrition and food insecurity, but
has now been broadened to include overnutrition
in vulnerable populations.
• It is the right of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health, and for
children this may include freedom from obesity.
• The use of a human rights approach to preventing
childhood obesity helps to ensure that the debates
and actions centre on what is best for children and
the Sydney Principles to guide substantial reductions
in food marketing of unhealthy foods that targets
children is one example of such an application.
Preventing Childhood Obesity. Edited by
E. Waters, B.A. Swinburn, J.C. Seidell and R. Uauy.
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing.
Introduction
The relationship between human rights and health is
one that is now increasingly discussed throughout
the world and rights - based approaches to public
health issues are being promoted as having much
to contribute to addressing health inequalities and
achieving sustainable gains in population health. 1 – 4 To
date, this relatively recent consideration of the relationship
between human rights and health has largely
concentrated on the right of individuals to health care
and treatment and on the protection of individuals
from physical harm. 5 For example, rights - based
approaches have been used to advocate for strengthened
health care systems, to target maternal mortality
and reproductive health, mental health care, and
neglected diseases, and to raise the profile of underlying
determinants such as the right to water and sanitation.
10 The work of the UN Special Rapporteur
6 –
on the right to health, a position established in 2002,
has done much to promote greater global attention
to health and human rights. 11 However, the health
sector has also recently been critiqued for its relative
silence on human rights, with the suggestion that
there is a general lack of awareness within the field
regarding human rights and what they mean in
1
practice.
Human rights are essentially freedoms and entitlements
that are concerned with protecting the inherent
dignity and quality of all human beings, and encompass
civil, political, economic, social and cultural
12,13
rights. While human rights are inspired by, and
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