Geneva, 22 May 2017 (PAHO/WHO) - A landmark global report on Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents was presented to the 70th World Health Assembly by the WHO Director General, Dr. Margaret Chan and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.

Chan referenced the Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health (2016-2030) as "perhaps the most game-changing strategy that has happened during my leadership of WHO."

"It is of vital importance to act now," Chan said. "We stand at a crossroads of investing in health and addressing inequalities and discrimination - on a foundation of international human rights law."

Zeid cited a number of growing global challenges to human rights to health during the past decade - including deepening inequalities, more pandemics fueled by climate change, a rolling back of sexual and reproductive rights in many countries, and the deliberate targeting of health services and health workers in conflict settings.

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The Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health (2016-2030) was applauded by national health ministers from Chile, Colombia, Uruguay and several other countries as a critical step towards securing needed global and national political support for human rights both to and through health.

"Our national process that led to the adoption of this report was very consultative and open-ended, engaging a range of stakeholders," said Uruguay Health Minister Dr. Jorge Basso. "The report achieves the expected results, by applying human-rights based approaches to health. We are committed to continuing to strive for this in Uruguay."

Colombia's Health Minister, Dr. Alejandro Gaviria, cited his country's active judiciary as a leading factor in prosecuting tens of thousands of health rights violations every year in Colombia.

"In Colombia we already anticipated some of the recommendations from this report," Gaviria said. "The human rights-based approach to health is key to social progress, but our efforts to date have not been sufficient. Health inequalities have not diminished. This is not only about political will at the top - it is also about capacities at the bottom. So we persist, on a daily basis, with determination and knowledge that we can always do better."

Three major recommendations were presented for advancing the Global Strategy by governments, civil society and other key actors worldwide:

  1. Establish a global action programme for implementation of the Global Strategy recommendations;
  2. Build needed institutional capacity and expertise or implementation; and
  3. Ensure ongoing coordination and tracking of progress toward the realization of human rights to health and through health.