ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the value of human life is framed in health, with the aim of identifying societal perceptions on the worth or value of human life. It considers a reading of the concept of allowable death, as death that is both premature and avoidable. The chapter examines how Zimbabwean vocabulary frames the ‘value’ of human life. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the same year, contextualised this in the form of rights to cultural expression, dignity and social autonomy. In the ethnographic case study of Tino, religious influence and the perceptions of health workers and those around them emerge as critical nodes for the workings of power over people’s consciousness. The right to health, education, housing and food then further infers that there are positive steps that government should be prepared to take in ensuring the protection of the right to life of all people, including people infected and living with HIV/AIDS.
