Dear friends,
The Open Society Foundations work globally
to ensure that public health policies and practices are based on evidence and
promote human rights, social inclusion, and justice. In this week’s update we
look at two diverse populations who are often vulnerable to rights violations
and receive substandard health care: people living with terminal illness and
people who use drugs.
Read the stories below and express your
opinion on the Open Society blog. Thank you for
reading, and please continue to send me your feedback.
Paul Silva
psilva@sorosny.org
Follow me on Twitter: @PauloNYC
Palliative Care as a Human Right
The concept of human rights generally
brings to mind some basic fundamental freedoms and protections: Freedom from torture. Freedom of
opinion and expression. Freedom from slavery. But what about a
person at the end of her life who is left to die in excruciating pain. Is there
a human right to be free from this suffering?
Increasingly, human rights advocates and
palliative care organizations are using human rights tools to demand that
governments fulfill their obligations to ensure access to care for people with
life limiting illness, especially those who are suffering from needless pain.
Learn more, and help spread the message by passing it on.
Medical Leaders Lash Out at Drug
Detention Centers
As many as an estimated 400,000 people
worldwide are currently held in drug detention centers—sometimes for years at a
time—on suspicion of using drugs or because of a positive urine test. Most
get no medical evaluation, and no treatment—for drug addiction, TB, or
HIV. Last week, two prominent international medical associations condemned
this practice, calling for drug detention facilities to be closed immediately.
Read what the world’s medical leaders are saying.
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