To help healthcare providers who want to apply the right to health for the benefit of their patients and the communities in which they live, IFHHRO is currently developing a easy-to-use assessment instrument, the Right to Health Toolkit.
Most countries in the world have committed themselves to obligations for the delivery of adequate healthcare. Agreements with regard to this obligation are laid down in international laws and regulations and summarized in the so-called right to health. The right to health states among others that healthcare must be available, accessible and affordable for every person and must be of good quality.
However, many health workers do not know how these principles pertain to their patients’ rights. The Right to Health Toolkit could be used by any healthcare provider to explore whether or not his or her own work situation meets the internationally agreed standards of the right to health on essential points.
Dignity by the Bedside Project
Based on an extensive web search done in December 2021, we have concluded that an accessible tool for healthcare workers such as our toolkit does not yet exist. Part of the toolkit is the Right to Health Checklist developed in the framework of our Dignity at the Bedside Project, which is partly funded by the Knowledge Centre for Global Health (KCGH) in the Netherlands. Since the beginning of 2022, IFHHRO has joined this new knowledge centre as one of its working groups.
The draft Right to Health Checklist has been based on the Human Rights Framework, also known as the AAAQ Framework (where the A’s stand for availability, accessibility and affordability and the Q for quality). The checklist contains a limited number of questions. Answering these questions will provide a good idea of the quality of care in one’s own (clinical) practice.
Next phase (2022-2023)
In the next phase of the project, we will approach potential partners and ask them what they think about the draft tool and if they would be interested in helping us to bring the toolkit under the attention of health providers worldwide. We will also conduct a field test of the instrument in various healthcare institutions in the Netherlands and abroad, in combination with an effect study in collaboration with a university or scientific institution.
If you would be interested in collaborating with us in this phase, please don’t hesitate to contact us!