Preventing Childhood Obesity - Evidence Policy and Practice.pdf

A human rights approach to childhood obesity prevention
strengthened by a right to food approach is an area for
further exploration throughout the international
community.
The r ight to h ealth
The right to health, or in its fullest form, the right to
the highest attainable standard of health, was first
expressed in the constitution of the WHO in 1946. 31
It was restated in the 1978 Declaration of Alma Ata
and again in the World Health Declaration adopted
in 1998 by the World Health Assembly. 32 Within
international human rights law, the right to the
highest attainable standard of health is outlined within
the UDHR 14 and subsequently reiterated in Article 12
of UESCR which states that:
Parties to the present Covenant recognize the
right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental
health.
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This right to health is thus a claim to a set of social
conditions, including norms, institutions, laws and an
enabling environment that can best secure the realization
of this right. 2 The nature of the right to health
was further clarified in 2000 with the adoption of a
General Comment on the right to health by the
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights
which monitors the Covenant. 20 This General
Comment recognized the close relationship between
the right to health and other human rights including,
but not limited to, the right to food, housing, work,
education, participation, non - discrimination, equality
and the prohibition of torture. In this way, the
right to health was interpreted as including not only
appropriate and timely health care, but also the
underlying determinants of health. 2
The need for the right to health to be universally
recognized and understood as a fundamental human
right has recently been reiterated with the sixtieth
anniversary of UDHR. 1,3 Doing so, it is argued,
acknowledges the need for a strong social commitment
to good health and thus should be included in
national and international health policy. 3 The implications
of the right to health, and its expanded focus
to include underlying determinants of health, for
childhood obesity prevention are yet to be fully
explored as the wider public health community grapples
with the translation of rights - based frameworks
into practice.
Approaches to i ncorporating
h uman r ights into c hildhood
o besity p revention
What then does a rights - based approach mean, in
practice, to childhood obesity prevention beyond, as
others have said, 4 “ having a good heart behind efforts
and actions ” ? It is claimed that one key contribution
of human rights to public health is the provision of a
persuasive argument for government responsibility to
not only provide health services but also to address
underlying determinants of health such as poverty,
deprivation, marginalization and discrimination. 4 In
the context of childhood obesity, this challenges the
placing of responsibility for childhood obesity prevention
within the family context 33 and clearly makes it
an issue of governmental concern. In this way, a
rights - based approach to childhood obesity can form
the basis for action at a societal level, which is vital,
given that childhood obesity is now widely recognized
as a “ societal rather than a medical problem ” . 17
One argument against a human rights approach to
health is the lack of binding legislation demanding
that they be achieved. 3 While this issue of enforcement
does create real challenges, this does not mean that
rights - based approaches should be abandoned or dismissed
as idealistic and unfeasible. Human rights
provide an important overarching framework, or
“parent ” to guide legislation 34 as well as many other
ways of furthering the cause of particular rights. 3
Legislation is not the only requirement for the fulfillment
of rights; rather public discussion, social monitoring,
investigative reporting and social work all have
critical roles to play. 35
Advocacy using a language of human rights, including
those outlined within UNCROC, as well as the
right to adequate food and the right to health, is a
powerful way of drawing attention to issues related to
childhood obesity prevention. This might include
mobilizing public opinion and advocating for governmental
and institutional changes to implement rights,
even if they are not yet legally established. 4 Su ch a dvo -
cacy can play an important role in moving such institutions
towards a situation where human rights are
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