Date: 12/2, 13.15-15.00

Room: 220

Lecturer: Damon Barrett

In this session we will discuss the challenge of health data, in developing useful indicators for global health, the politics of a seemingly neutral process of measurement, and how we might translate the right to health into something we can track.

Following an introductory discussion on health data, indicator types, dilemmas and politics, we'll explore what we can learn from the right to health from existing public health data. We'll use mental health as a case example.

In-class discussion instructions

Article 12 of the ICESCR guarantees the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (recall your lecture with Karen and associated readings). But what can we learn about the realisation of the right to health from existing health data?

1. Dig into the WHO's global data on mental health governance and services - this won't take long!

Governance: https://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.MHPOLFIN?lang=en
Services: https://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.MHCAREDEL?lang=en

2. In small groups, discuss:

What do these data tell us, and what can they not tell us, about the realisation of the right to health in the context of mental health? Pay more attention to the indicators themselves rather than individual country statistics
What other information might be needed to better understand the realisation of the right to health in the context of mental health? (Think about it this way: what does the right to heath require and how could you measure that?)

Reading:

Birn et al chapter 5. Good overview of global health data types and sources, as well as challenges. Have a look at the indicators on Table 5-2. Think about this: What are the main characteristics of these indicators? What can they tell us and not tell us? What challenges and complications can you think of?

Gruskin S., & Ferguson R., Using Indicators to Determine the Contribution of Human Rights to Public Health Efforts, in Health and Human Rights in a Changing World, Chapter 13 (An introduction to the use of indicators for tracking human rights in public health)

Sample indicators

Human rights indicators http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Human_rights_indicators_en.pdf See Sample indicators, e.g.: p. 90. the right to health)

SDG health indicators https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3