Sofia Gruskin
University of Southern California, Preventive Medicine, Faculty Member
- Harvard School of Public Health, Global Health and Population, Faculty MemberUniversity of Southern California, Gould School of Law, Faculty Memberadd
- Sofia Gruskin directs the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health and holds appointments as Professor of Preve... moreSofia Gruskin directs the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health and holds appointments as Professor of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine and as Professor of Law and Preventive Medicine at the Gould School of Law. In addition, she is an affiliate faculty member with the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity and the Spatial Sciences Institute—both at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. A pioneer in global health and human rights, Professor Gruskin was previously at the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Global Health and Population, where she was an Associate Professor, Director of the Program on International Health and Human Rights, and Co-Director of the Interdepartmental Program on Women, Gender and Health. Her work, which ranges from global policy to the grassroots level, has been instrumental in developing the conceptual, methodological and empirical links between health and human rights, with a focus on HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, child and adolescent health, gender-based violence and health systems. Current partners include the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Concern Worldwide, Merck Company Foundation, Open Society Foundation, and local organizations and universities in Brazil, India and Vietnam. She is on the Board of Directors of the Guttmacher Institute, and most recently was on the Institute of Medicine's Committee for the Outcome and Impact Evaluation of Global HIV/AIDS Programs Implemented Under the Lantos/Hyde Act of 2008 (PEPFAR), and the Technical Advisory Group of the UN Global Commission on HIV and the Law. Professor Gruskin is Adjunct Professor of Global Health at the Harvard School of Public Health and an associate editor for The American Journal of Public Health, Global Public Health, and Reproductive Health Matters.edit
Editorial To cite: Khosla R, Allotey P, Gruskin S. Global health and human rights for a postpandemic world.
In many ways, the conferences we held were critical to this effort, highlighting work being done, and that needed to be done, not only in HIV but in other areas such as reproductive health, tobacco control, and humanitarian crises. We... more
In many ways, the conferences we held were critical to this effort, highlighting work being done, and that needed to be done, not only in HIV but in other areas such as reproductive health, tobacco control, and humanitarian crises. We worked internally to draw parallels between the concepts and issues we were seeing. Out of that came the famous (at least to us) language of inextricable linkages and three relationships. Under Jonathan's guidance the first issue of the journal laid out the three relationships as we saw them then: the positive and negative impacts of health policies and programs on human rights; the impacts of human rights violation or promotion on health; and "the inextricable linkages" between the two. I served as associate editor for the first two years of the Journal's existence and as its editor until 2006. Throughout that time for each issue we produced, whatever the theme, we strove to ensure we were fostering a coherent body of work, and we worked with authors to ensure all of the articles accepted helped in some way to further clarify these relationships. Those years helped us to move from the conceptual meaning of these linkages across different domains of health, to what these links mean in practice. In the decade or so that followed, we saw UN agencies and small grassroots organizations alike taking on the ubiquitous "rights-based approach" (whether in rhetoric or reality) as a framework for doing their Sofia Gruskin is Professor,
Objectives. To estimate the association between rates of police-related deaths and neighborhood residential segregation (by income, race/ethnicity, or both combined) in the United States. Methods. We identified police-related deaths that... more
Objectives. To estimate the association between rates of police-related deaths and neighborhood residential segregation (by income, race/ethnicity, or both combined) in the United States. Methods. We identified police-related deaths that occurred in the United States (2015-2016) using a data set from the Guardian newspaper. We used census data to estimate expected police-related death counts for all US census tracts and to calculate the Index of Concentration at the Extremes as a segregation measure. We used mul-tilevel negative binomial models for the analyses. Results. Overall, police-related death rates were highest in neighborhoods with the greatest concentrations of low-income residents (vs high-income residents) and residents of color (vs non-Hispanic White residents). For non-Hispanic Blacks, however, the risk was greater in the quintile of neighborhoods with the highest concentration of non-Hispanic White residents than in certain neighborhoods with relatively higher concentrations of residents of color (the third and fourth quintiles). Conclusions. Neighborhood context matters-beyond individual race/ethnicity-for understanding, preventing, and responding to the occurrence of police-related deaths. Public Health Implications. Efforts to monitor, prevent, and respond to police-related deaths should consider neighborhood context, including levels of segregation by income and race/ethnicity. (Am J
In many ways, the conferences we held were critical to this effort, highlighting work being done, and that needed to be done, not only in HIV but in other areas such as reproductive health, tobacco control, and humanitarian crises. We... more
In many ways, the conferences we held were critical to this effort, highlighting work being done, and that needed to be done, not only in HIV but in other areas such as reproductive health, tobacco control, and humanitarian crises. We worked internally to draw parallels between the concepts and issues we were seeing. Out of that came the famous (at least to us) language of inextricable linkages and three relationships. Under Jonathan's guidance the first issue of the journal laid out the three relationships as we saw them then: the positive and negative impacts of health policies and programs on human rights; the impacts of human rights violation or promotion on health; and "the inextricable linkages" between the two. I served as associate editor for the first two years of the Journal's existence and as its editor until 2006. Throughout that time for each issue we produced, whatever the theme, we strove to ensure we were fostering a coherent body of work, and we worked with authors to ensure all of the articles accepted helped in some way to further clarify these relationships. Those years helped us to move from the conceptual meaning of these linkages across different domains of health, to what these links mean in practice. In the decade or so that followed, we saw UN agencies and small grassroots organizations alike taking on the ubiquitous "rights-based approach" (whether in rhetoric or reality) as a framework for doing their Sofia Gruskin is Professor,
Editorial To cite: Khosla R, Allotey P, Gruskin S. Global health and human rights for a postpandemic world.
Objectives. To estimate the association between rates of police-related deaths and neighborhood residential segregation (by income, race/ethnicity, or both combined) in the United States. Methods. We identified police-related deaths that... more
Objectives. To estimate the association between rates of police-related deaths and neighborhood residential segregation (by income, race/ethnicity, or both combined) in the United States. Methods. We identified police-related deaths that occurred in the United States (2015-2016) using a data set from the Guardian newspaper. We used census data to estimate expected police-related death counts for all US census tracts and to calculate the Index of Concentration at the Extremes as a segregation measure. We used mul-tilevel negative binomial models for the analyses. Results. Overall, police-related death rates were highest in neighborhoods with the greatest concentrations of low-income residents (vs high-income residents) and residents of color (vs non-Hispanic White residents). For non-Hispanic Blacks, however, the risk was greater in the quintile of neighborhoods with the highest concentration of non-Hispanic White residents than in certain neighborhoods with relatively higher concentrations of residents of color (the third and fourth quintiles). Conclusions. Neighborhood context matters-beyond individual race/ethnicity-for understanding, preventing, and responding to the occurrence of police-related deaths. Public Health Implications. Efforts to monitor, prevent, and respond to police-related deaths should consider neighborhood context, including levels of segregation by income and race/ethnicity. (Am J
Legal empowerment is increasingly recognized as a key approach for addressing socio-structural determinants of health and promoting the well-being and human rights of vulnerable populations. Legal empowerment seeks to increase people's... more
Legal empowerment is increasingly recognized as a key approach for addressing socio-structural determinants of health and promoting the well-being and human rights of vulnerable populations. Legal empowerment seeks to increase people's capacity to understand and use the law. However, limited consensus remains on the effectiveness of legal empowerment interventions in optimizing health outcomes. Leveraging Katherine Footer, MSc, LLB is an assistant scientist in
Background: All around the world, the paralegal program prepares members of marginalized communities to face the legal system. Having a common background with their clients and being capable of conducting flexible work, paralegals' role... more
Background: All around the world, the paralegal program prepares members of marginalized communities to face the legal system. Having a common background with their clients and being capable of conducting flexible work, paralegals' role moves beyond enlarging the beneficiaries of legal aid to addressing intersectional issues around health-related rights. This study assesses the health and other impacts of paralegals recruited by Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Masyarakat (LBHM), a human rights organization which provides legal assistance and operates in Jakarta, Indonesia. The positive results these paralegals can bring in the specific context can contribute to the development of community-based paralegals elsewhere.
The extent to which people can enjoy their sexual and reproductive health is invariably intertwined with issues of disadvantage, inequality and human rights. Increased conservatism, lack of political will, outright resistance and the... more
The extent to which people can enjoy their sexual and reproductive health is invariably intertwined with issues of disadvantage, inequality and human rights. Increased conservatism, lack of political will, outright resistance and the limited incorporation of human rights norms and standards into sexual and reproductive health policies and programmes are central challenges. Building capacity and skills to understand and address the range of issues raised by sexual and reproductive health and rights is of critical importance. Committed to the principles underlying the ICPD agenda and heavily involved in research and education, with a shared desire to bring global attention to the need for gender- and rights-oriented research and training in sexual and reproductive health, a group of us came together to form the Rights- Oriented Research and Education (RORE) Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health at the end of 2012. To generate dialogue, discussion and action, we propose what we mean by a human rights orientation to sexual and reproductive health and what we believe is needed going forward to achieve a human rights orientation to sexual and reproductive health education and research.
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Research Interests: Sociology, Human Geography, Bioethics, Human Rights, Poverty, and 15 moreSocial Justice, Health Equity, Health, Public Health, Health Policy, Comparative Study, Medicine, Social Class, Equity, Humans, Socioeconomic Status, Health Status, Public health systems and services research, Ethnic Group, and Equity Law
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The world's climate is changing, with insidious effects that steadily erode the quality of life of those who depend on the environment. The dramatic effects of this change are evident in the form of an exceptional accumulation of... more
The world's climate is changing, with insidious effects that steadily erode the quality of life of those who depend on the environment. The dramatic effects of this change are evident in the form of an exceptional accumulation of natural disasters. In the two decades since the U.N. recognized climate change as a potential threat, climate change has emerged as a real and worsening danger to health, human rights, and human well-being. Accordingly, climate change has become an integral part of the discussion surrounding human rights advocacy and action, in particular it is suggested that a rightsbased approach to climate change offers potential for engagement and mitigation of the effects of climate change on vulnerable populations.
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Research Interests: Business, Ethics, Human Rights, Poverty, Health Care, and 15 moreHealth Equity, Health, Public Health, Health Policy, Medicine, Equity, Equal Opportunities, Humans, Human right, Health Services, Health Care Financing, Health Status, Health Services Accessibility, Medical and Health Sciences, and Organization and Administration
This roundtable discussion raises and responds to the question: What can be learned from academic and local government partnerships to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? We draw on several years of cooperation between the... more
This roundtable discussion raises and responds to the question: What can be learned from academic and local government partnerships to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? We draw on several years of cooperation between the Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles (CA, USA) and academic institutions on how to best advance and integrate the United Nations’ SDGs into policy. Stakeholders from this project give voice to varying perspectives across roles—as city officials, academic partners, graduate and undergraduate students—in the Los Angeles case of SDG implementation. The article outlines a “Task Force” model, under the joint facilitation of faculty advisors and guidance of city partners, that promotes students’ experiential learning, and meaningfully bridges theory and practice in bringing global frameworks to local practice. We highlight what we gain by disaggregating the local and taking space and place seriously in sustainability policy, while underscoring the importance...
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Background All around the world, the paralegal program prepares members of marginalized communities to face the legal system. Having a common background with their clients and being capable of conducting flexible work, paralegals’ role... more
Background All around the world, the paralegal program prepares members of marginalized communities to face the legal system. Having a common background with their clients and being capable of conducting flexible work, paralegals’ role moves beyond enlarging the beneficiaries of legal aid to addressing intersectional issues around health-related rights. This study assesses the health and other impacts of paralegals recruited by Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Masyarakat (LBHM), a human rights organization which provides legal assistance and operates in Jakarta, Indonesia. The positive results these paralegals can bring in the specific context can contribute to the development of community-based paralegals elsewhere. Methods This mixed methods research was carried out in 2016-2018. In 2016, a quantitative survey was administered to LBHM-trained paralegals and a sub-set of paralegals who completed the survey were then also interviewed. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS, and, for the qu...
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Abstract The use of reproductive technologies has expanded beyond cases of infertility, and opportunities for individuals of different sexual orientations to use such technologies for conception have increased. The authors examined the... more
Abstract The use of reproductive technologies has expanded beyond cases of infertility, and opportunities for individuals of different sexual orientations to use such technologies for conception have increased. The authors examined the challenges and limitations faced by women in same-sex relationships seeking conception services in São Paulo, Brazil. They interviewed 16 women in same-sex relationships who conceived children using reproductive technologies. Access to public health services for conception remains limited and exclusive to infertile heterosexual couples. Women in same-sex relationships are forced to select between costly medical treatments in the private sector, or self-insemination with sperm from a known donor. In this study, individuals reported that they experienced adverse effects of treatments; were treated with technologies for infertility when they were, in fact, fertile; and were exposed to unnecessary and invasive interventions. Growing political conservatism and the reduction of investment in public health services are factors that can directly affect sexual and reproductive health, including that of lesbians. Public policies that enable same-sex couples to conceive have yet to be developed in many countries, and a clearer articulation of the right to evidence-informed, rights-based care, consistent with national and international guidelines is a much-needed next step.
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Legal empowerment is increasingly recognized as a key approach for addressing socio-structural determinants of health and promoting the well-being and human rights of vulnerable populations. Legal empowerment seeks to increase... more
Legal empowerment is increasingly recognized as a key approach for addressing socio-structural determinants of health and promoting the well-being and human rights of vulnerable populations. Legal empowerment seeks to increase people's capacity to understand and use the law. However, limited consensus remains on the effectiveness of legal empowerment interventions in optimizing health outcomes. Leveraging a meta-narrative approach, we synthesized literature describing how legal empowerment interventions have been operationalized and empirically studied with respect to health determinants. The studies included here document diverse legal empowerment approaches and highlight how interventions changed the context surrounding the health of vulnerable populations. The absence of robust conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement of the risk contexts in which legal empowerment approaches operate limits the clarity with which interventions' impact on health can be ascert...
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Research Interests: Homicide, Adolescent, Mortality, Law Enforcement, Mass media, and 15 moreHumans, Female, Male, Data Collection, Firearms, Ethnic Groups, African Americans, Middle Aged, Asian Americans, Adult, European Continental Ancestry Group, Cross Sectional Studies, Logistic Models, Cause of death, and Medical and Health Sciences
There is growing recognition in the health community that the legal environment-including laws, policies, and related procedures-impacts vulnerability to HIV and access to HIV-related services both positively and negatively. Assessing... more
There is growing recognition in the health community that the legal environment-including laws, policies, and related procedures-impacts vulnerability to HIV and access to HIV-related services both positively and negatively. Assessing changes in the legal environment and how these affect HIV-related outcomes, however, is challenging, and understanding of appropriate methodologies nascent. We conducted an evaluation of a UNDP project designed to strengthen legal environments to support the human rights of key populations, in particular LGBT populations, women and girls, affected by HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. We analyzed data on activities designed to improve legal environments through a systematic document review and 53 qualitative interviews. The project made substantial strides towards legal change in many places, and examples provide broader lessons for work in this area. Two core pillars appear fundamental: a government-led participatory assessment of the legal environment, and b...
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The last few years have seen a rise in the number of global and national initiatives that seek to incorporate human rights into public health practice. Nonetheless, a lack of clarity persists regarding the most appropriate indicators to... more
The last few years have seen a rise in the number of global and national initiatives that seek to incorporate human rights into public health practice. Nonetheless, a lack of clarity persists regarding the most appropriate indicators to monitor rights concerns in these efforts. The objective of this work was to develop a systematic methodology for use in determining the extent to which indicators commonly used in public health capture human rights concerns, using contraceptive services and programmes as a case study. The approach used to identify, evaluate, select and review indicators for their human rights sensitivity built on processes undertaken in previous work led by the World Health Organization (WHO). With advice from an expert advisory group, an analytic framework was developed to identify and evaluate quantitative, qualitative, and policy indicators in relation to contraception for their sensitivity to human rights. To test the framework's validity, indicators were rev...
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To assess the validity of demographic data reported in news media-based data sets for persons killed by police in Massachusetts (2004-2016) and to evaluate misclassification of these deaths in vital statistics mortality data. We... more
To assess the validity of demographic data reported in news media-based data sets for persons killed by police in Massachusetts (2004-2016) and to evaluate misclassification of these deaths in vital statistics mortality data. We identified 84 deaths resulting from police intervention in 4 news media-based data sources (WGBH News, Fatal Encounters, The Guardian, and The Washington Post) and, via record linkage, conducted matched-pair analyses with the Massachusetts mortality data. Compared with death certificates, there was near-perfect correlation for age in all sources (Pearson r > 0.99) and perfect concordance for gender. Agreement for race/ethnicity ranged from perfect (The Counted and The Washington Post) to high (Fatal Encounters Cohen's κ = 0.92). Among the 78 decedents for whom finalized International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10), codes were available, 59 (75.6%) were properly classified as "deaths due to legal intervention." In Massachu...
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The National Commitments and Policy Instrument (NCPI) has been used to monitor AIDS-related laws and policies for over 10 years. What can be learnt from this process? Analyses draw on NCPI questionnaires, NCPI responses, the UNAIDS Law... more
The National Commitments and Policy Instrument (NCPI) has been used to monitor AIDS-related laws and policies for over 10 years. What can be learnt from this process? Analyses draw on NCPI questionnaires, NCPI responses, the UNAIDS Law Database, survey data and responses to a 2014 survey on the NCPI. The NCPI provides the first and only systematic data on country self-reported national HIV laws and policies. High NCPI reporting rates and survey responses suggest the majority of countries consider the process relevant. Combined civil society and government engagement and reporting is integral to the NCPI. NCPI experience demonstrates its importance in describing the political and legal environment for the HIV response, for programmatic reviews and to stimulate dialogue among stakeholders, but there is a need for updating and in some instances to complement results with more objective quantitative data. We identify five areas that need to be updated in the next iteration of the NCPI a...
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The importance of promoting gender equality and human rights in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programmes and policies has been affirmed in numerous international and regional agreements, most recently the 2030 Agenda for... more
The importance of promoting gender equality and human rights in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programmes and policies has been affirmed in numerous international and regional agreements, most recently the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Given the critical role of research to determine what works, we aimed to identify research gaps as part of a broader priority setting exercise on integrating gender equality and human rights approaches in SRH programmes and policies. A systematic literature review of reviews was conducted to examine the question: what do we know about how research in the context of SRH programmes and policies has addressed gender equality and human rights and what are the current gaps in research. We searched three databases for reviews that addressed the research question, were published between 1994-2014, and met methodological standards for systematic reviews, qualitative meta-syntheses and other reviews of relevance to the research question. Addit...
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ISSN: 1526-5161 (Print) 1536-0075 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uajb20 No “Shared Governance” Without Attention to Law, Broadly Conceived Alexander M. Capron & Sofia Gruskin To cite this article: Alexander... more
ISSN: 1526-5161 (Print) 1536-0075 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uajb20 No “Shared Governance” Without Attention to Law, Broadly Conceived Alexander M. Capron & Sofia Gruskin To cite this article: Alexander M. Capron & Sofia Gruskin (2016) No “Shared Governance” Without Attention to Law, Broadly Conceived, The American Journal of Bioethics, 16:10, 54-56, DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2016.1214332 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2016.1214332
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The relationship between HIV/AIDS and human rights are rich and the experience gained by people confronting the pandemic and its impact remain broad and varied. The intersection between HIV/AIDS prevention control and care and human... more
The relationship between HIV/AIDS and human rights are rich and the experience gained by people confronting the pandemic and its impact remain broad and varied. The intersection between HIV/AIDS prevention control and care and human rights promotion and protection are described in the two issues of Health and Human Rights journal. Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is described in human rights terms with respect to several different contexts and population. The vulnerability of children adolescents and young adults to HIV/AIDS will determine the future of the pandemic. The rights of the child are highly relevant to issues concerning HIV/AIDS. The UN has played an important role in setting out the relation between the current status of HIV/AIDS policies and programs and the health and human rights perspective. Human rights have become an essential element of public health by providing a coherent framework for analyzing and responding to the societal dimension of health.
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Research Interests: Personality, Behavior, Sexuality, Male Circumcision, Wound Healing, and 13 moreHealth, Health Policy, Medicine, Gender Identity, Population, Humans, Social Science Research Network, Organizations, Male, Public health systems and services research, World Health Organization, Paediatrics and reproductive medicine, and HIV infections
1. Health Hum Rights. 1998;2(4):1-3. Past, present, and future: AIDS and human rights. Gruskin S, Mann J, Tarantola D. PMID: 11657136 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]. Publication Types: Editorial. MeSH Terms. Acquired Immunodeficiency... more
1. Health Hum Rights. 1998;2(4):1-3. Past, present, and future: AIDS and human rights. Gruskin S, Mann J, Tarantola D. PMID: 11657136 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]. Publication Types: Editorial. MeSH Terms. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome*; HIV Seropositivity*; Human Rights*; Humans; International Cooperation*; Internationality*; Persons; Public Health; United Nations; Vulnerable Populations; World Health Organization.
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The incorporation of human rights in health policy and programmes is known to strengthen responses to health problems and help address disparities created or exacerbated by illness yet this remains underexplored in relation to... more
The incorporation of human rights in health policy and programmes is known to strengthen responses to health problems and help address disparities created or exacerbated by illness yet this remains underexplored in relation to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Aiming to understand existing synergies and how they might be further strengthened, we assessed the extent to which human rights are considered in global NCD policies and strategies and the degree of attention given to NCDs by select United Nations human rights mechanisms. Across global NCD policies and strategies, rhetorical assertions regarding human rights appear more often than actionable statements, thus limiting their implementation and impact. Although no human rights treaty explicitly mentions NCDs, some human rights monitoring mechanisms have been paying increasing attention to NCDs. This provides important avenues for promoting the incorporation of human rights norms and standards into NCD responses as well as for accountability. Linking NCDs and human rights at the global level is critical for encouraging national-level action to promote better outcomes relating to both health and human rights. The post-2015 development agenda constitutes a key entry point for highlighting these synergies and strengthening opportunities for health and rights action at global, national and local levels.
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Health and human rights, individually, occupy a privileged place in human aspirations, public discourse, and political debates. Yet, the joining of these two intertwined concepts, sets of principles, and desired outcomes has only occurred... more
Health and human rights, individually, occupy a privileged place in human aspirations, public discourse, and political debates. Yet, the joining of these two intertwined concepts, sets of principles, and desired outcomes has only occurred in the past decade. This article highlights some of the significant factors that have given rise to the use of health and human rights concepts in health policy. It summarily defines human rights and some of the mechanisms and instruments relevant to their interpretation and monitoring. It then suggests how a health and human rights approach has been applied to public health policy, proposing that human rights concepts are relevant to the development, processes, impacts, and outcomes of all policies with relevance to health.
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Human rights add value to the concrete work of public health in myriad ways. Of the institutions and individuals engaged in these efforts some take health as an entry point, others take human rights but no one approach has primacy over... more
Human rights add value to the concrete work of public health in myriad ways. Of the institutions and individuals engaged in these efforts some take health as an entry point, others take human rights but no one approach has primacy over others. Despite this diversity, the frameworks within which they operate can be generally assigned to four broad categories: advocacy, legal, policy, and programs. In this article we attempt to set out what application of these concepts has meant to date in practice, discuss the application of ‘rights-based’ approaches to health in detail, and suggest issues for further consideration.
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Policy-oriented population health targets, such as the Millennium Development Goals and national targets to address health inequities, are typically based on trends of a decade or less. To test whether expanded timeframes might be more... more
Policy-oriented population health targets, such as the Millennium Development Goals and national targets to address health inequities, are typically based on trends of a decade or less. To test whether expanded timeframes might be more apt, we analyzed 50-year trends in US infant death rates (1960-2010) jointly by income and race/ethnicity. The largest annual per cent changes in the infant death rate (between -4 and -10 per cent), for all racial/ethnic groups, in the lowest income quintile occurred between the mid-1960s and early 1980s, and in the second lowest income quintile between the mid-1960s and 1973. Since the 1990s, these numbers have hovered, in all groups, between -1 and -3 per cent. Hence, to look back only 15 years (in 2014, to 1999) would ignore gains achieved prior to the onset of neoliberal policies after 1980. Target setting should be informed by a deeper and longer-term appraisal of what is possible to achieve.Journal of Public Health Policy advance online publicat...
Research Interests: Geography, Demography, Social Policy, Public Health Policy, Social Determinants of Health, and 15 moreHealth Policy, Medicine, Humans, International Public Health, Health Policies, TRENDS, United States, Race Ethnicity, Infant, Income, Ethnic Groups, Socioeconomic, Infant Mortality, Ethnic Group, and Targets
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This article is one of a series commissioned to mark the tenth anniversary of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. It offers a critical assessment of the impact of the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on national HIV/AIDS strategies and... more
This article is one of a series commissioned to mark the tenth anniversary of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. It offers a critical assessment of the impact of the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on national HIV/AIDS strategies and programs in relation to human rights one year after its adoption. The article reviews the process leading up to the Declaration and describes the limitations of the Declaration's explicit and implicit recognition of human rights. It summarizes information provided by countries one year later to the Secretary-General and to UNAIDS on their progress in meeting the goals and targets of the Declaration, particularly with regard to human rights. It comments on what we can learn from this about countries' recognition of the centrality of promoting and protecting human rights. Finally, it suggests ways to monitor more effectively and comprehensively the implementation of a human rights-based response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
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Research Interests: Law, International Law, Human Rights, Political Science, Reproduction, and 15 morePrejudice, International Cooperation, Preventive medicine, Public Health, Medicine, Pregnancy, Humans, Female, Prevalence, Coercion, Internationality, Pregnant Women, Hiv seropositivity, Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and Pharmaceutical preparations
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HIV/AIDS epidemics around the world have drastically changed children's lives. Millions of children have been infected with HIV and have died of AIDS, and many more are affected as HIV spreads through their families and... more
HIV/AIDS epidemics around the world have drastically changed children's lives. Millions of children have been infected with HIV and have died of AIDS, and many more are affected as HIV spreads through their families and communities. The epidemics have an impact on adolescents as well as younger children, and increase the marginalization of children living in particularly difficult circumstances. To effectively support these children, and to fulfill their potential for growth and development, many approaches are needed: economic, ...