Abstract
Poverty is a serious threat for human beings and their well-being. People are simply unable to live a good life when they are faced with severe problems, e.g., bad education, poor housing, poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or malnourishment. However, one of the most urgent problems with regard to poverty is bad access to primary health care and the allocation of health care resources for millions of people around the world. These people are deprived of human flourishing, and life is for them, in general, “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” In this chapter, I present an ethical argument that shows that people have a moral right to primary health care, and that wealthy developed countries are morally obligated to help the needy. Primary health care, and hence access to it is, as I will argue, a global public good that is protected by human dignity and the human right of protection from unwarranted bodily harm.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aristotle. 1990. Ethica Nicomachea, ed. I. Bywater. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carson, T. L., and Moser, P. K. 2001. “Introduction.” In Moral Relativism: Species, Rationales, and Problems, ed. T. L. Carson and P. K. Moser, 1–21. New York: Oxford University Press.
Chen, L. C., Evans, T. G., and Cash, R. A. 1999. “Health as a global public good.” In Global Public Goods, ed. I. Kaul, I. Grunberg, and M. A. Stern, 284–304. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gordon, J.-S. 2006. “Justice or equality?” Journal for Business, Economics & Ethics 7 (2): 183–201.
Graham, H. 2004. “From science to policy: options for reducing health inequalities.” In Poverty, Inequality and Health, ed. D. Leon and G. Walt, 294–311. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kaul, I., Grunberg, I., and Stern, M. A. 1999. “Defining global public goods.” In Global Public Goods, ed. I. Kaul, I. Grunberg, and M. A. Stern, 2–19. New York: Oxford University Press.
Leon, D., and Walt, G. 2004. “Poverty, inequality, and health in international perspective: a divided world?.” In Poverty, Inequality and Health. ed. D. Leon and G. Walt, 7–16. New York: Oxford University Press.
Macklin, R. 1995. “The Nazi doctors and the Nuremberg Code.” In Universality of the Nuremberg Code, ed. G. J. Annas and M. A. Grodin, 241–256. New York: Oxford University Press.
Macklin, R. 1999. Against relativism. New York: Oxford University Press.
Plato. 1903. Platonis Opera, ed. J. Burnet. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pufendorf, S. 1672. “The law of nature and nations eight books.” De iure et naturae et gentium libri octo. C. H. Oldfather, Vol. II. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Sen, A. 2004. “Economic progress and health.” In Poverty, Inequality and Health, ed. D. Leon and G. Walt, 333–346. New York: Oxford University Press.
WHO. 1998. Health 21: Health for All in the 21st Century. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe.
Williams, B. 1972. Morality: An Introduction to Ethics. New York: Harper & Row.
Zwi, A. 2004. “Injuries, inequalities, and health: from policy vacuum to policy action.” In Poverty, Inequality and Health, ed. D. Leon and G. Walt, 263–282. New York: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science + Business Media B.V
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gordon, JS. (2008). Poverty, Human Rights, and Just Distribution. In: Boylan, M. (eds) International Public Health Policy and Ethics. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 42. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8617-5_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8617-5_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8616-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8617-5
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)