The Concept of Health Protection in International Law

Abstract

The authors analyze the content of the concept of “health protection” in international law, taking into account the fundamental importance of the right to health in the system of basic human rights. There is a lack of a uniform interpretation of this term, as well as a difference in the approaches to its understanding in the most important regulatory legal acts, which creates certain difficulties for law enforcement practice. In addition, the interpretation of the concept of “health protection”, according to the authors, is of decisive importance in the process of legal consolidation of the fundamental human right in the field of health, and also determines the meaning of the entire health care of states and their cooperation in this area.

In the context of the topic of their research, the authors analyze the content of the most important international instruments that perpetuate the right to health. The content of the concept of “health protection” is investigated by the authors both from the standpoint of legal dogmatic (normative content) and from the point of view of its actual filling as a set of measures provided by the state. It is concluded that despite the differences in the definitions of the concept of “health protection” existing in international instruments, as well as its absence in the main act of international level, which secures socio-economic human rights - the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, health protection in its legal nature is a specific mechanism allowing to achieve the realization of the right to the “highest attainable level” of health, which is proclaimed in this act as the basis of future.