ABSTRACT
Balancing the rights of the sick against those of the healthy is the oldest issue at the intersection of health and human rights. The South Pacific islands offer a unique perspective on this topic. Their relative isolation has meant they have historically been among the last to encounter diseases already familiar elsewhere; at the same time, no region is more naturally suited to isolating infected patients away from the general population, an approach most frequently employed for diseases accompanied by fear and stigma. Such was the case with leprosy in the nineteenth century; given the perceived success of this response, the idea was revived when the threat of HIV arose a century later. Foreign legal and public health measures and imported sets of religious and cultural values accompanied the arrival of both diseases. Each impacted the rights of local inhabitants. This essay situates this frequently overlooked region in the wider global context and addresses themes ranging from the effects of colonialism to the impacts of evolving scientific understanding of disease. It highlights key elements in the historical development of the relationship between health and human rights.
