20 Aug 2018

Norman Daniels: Human Rights and Fair Priorities in Health

The right to health aims to secure for all the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, but what when resource scarcity makes it impossible to provide optimal health care for the entire population? How should we prioritise available resources fairly between different health needs? Can the right to health be useful in the pursuit of fair priorities in health, or does maximalist conception of health rights undermine efforts to advance justice in health?

Norman Daniels is Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, USA 

Roundtable:
Human Rights and Fair Priorities to Children in Health

The keynote lecture by Norman Daniels, will be followed by a roundtable on how to set fair priorities to children when allocating resources in health. Should we, when prioritising health resources, use other standards for effectiveness and costs of treatment with regard to the medical needs of children? What does the obligation to ensure the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health mean for disabled children? And when should children have autonomy over decisions regarding their own health – for example regarding gender-affirming treatment, male circumcision or blood-transfusion?

Chair: Alicia Yamin

With Norman Daniels, Roberto Gargarella (Di Tella University, Argentina), Ole Frithjof Norheim (UiB). Kristine Onarheim (Ålesund Hospital) and Jesse Tomalty (UiB)