ABSTRACT
The human right to health has been part of the discourse on international law and public health since 1946, when the World Health Organization (WHO) proclaimed that the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental human right.1 Numerous treaties and other international instruments subsequently developed the right to health in international law.2 The right to health has served as inspiration for global public health initiatives, such as WHO’s Health for All effort launched in the late 1970s. Controversy has, however, plagued the development of the right to health as an international legal principle, raising the question whether the right to health serves as a guiding light for global public health policy in the twenty-first century.
