Imagine a world where no woman is denied her right to health- Seven propositions

A man at my age has two options: either to reminisce about a past of which he was a part, or to dream about a future in which he will not be a part. It is difficult to resist the temptation to talk about the past, and good old days. But I would rather dream about the future, and try to imagine a world where no woman is denied her right to health. Our world of diversity Diversity was the divine intent when, at the time of Babel, we were scattered all over the earth and our languages were confounded (Old Testament). Women in different parts of this diverse world may look different. But those of us who have been in the international field of women's health long enough know that women in this diversity share much more in common than what meets the eye. They share common aspirations. They have common concerns. They have in the present or had in the past their common grievances and injustices. And above all, they have common God-given entitlements, which many are still being denied. Women's health is often compromised not by lack of medical knowledge, but by infringements on their human rights (Cook et al., 2003). One of these rights is their human right to health. The human right to health The human right to health was proclaimed in the international human rights treaty, The Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Covenant (Article 12), recognizing the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (United Nations, 1996). This right to health needed some clarification. It is not to be understood as a right to be healthy. As clarified by the United Nations Committee, the right to health contains both freedoms and entitlements (United Nations, 2000). The freedoms include the right to control one's health and body. The entitlements include the right to a system of health protection , which provides equality of opportunity for people to enjoy the highest attainable level of health. As far as women are concerned, in many parts of our world, in our day, many women are still denied their right to health. They neither have the freedoms to control their health and body, nor the entitlement to a system of health protection which provides equality of opportunity for them, as women. For the dream world where no woman is denied …