Background

Within the framework of Human Rights Council resolution 51/21, the Special Rapporteur on the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health has identified health and care workers as a strategic priority, including their role in ensuring available, acceptable, accessible, and quality healthcare and in the effective operationalization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. In compliance with her mandate and in line with these priorities, the Special Rapporteur on the right to health has decided to devote her next thematic report to the Human Rights Council, to be presented in June 2025, to the theme of “health and care workers as key protectors of the right to health”.

Objectives

In the forthcoming report, the Special Rapporteur intends to focus on health and care workers, exploring their human rights as health and care workers and their role as key protectors of the rights of others and thus as human rights defenders.

All persons are entitled to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, which includes the underlying determinants of health and timely and appropriate health care, including healthy occupational and environmental conditions.

In the present report, the Special Rapporteur intends to explore the situation of health and care workers and their ability to enjoy and support the realization of the right to health and related human rights. She will elaborate on the health (including mental health) and working conditions of health and care workers, exploring challenges, opportunities and ways forward using a human rights lens.

The Special Rapporteur will use an intersectional, anti-racist and anti-colonial approach to the situation of health and care workers, rooted in the equality and non-discrimination framework. In doing so, she will examine the underlying power structures that perpetuate systems of disadvantage and their impact on health and care workers and their ability to provide acceptable, accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare.

Definitions

For the purposes of this report, the Special Rapporteur will use the term “health and care workers” to refer to all relevant individuals and groups providing health and related care including doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, paramedics and ambulance drivers, hospital and clinic administrative staff, related support workers, first aid providers, and other individuals providing health and care services.

The term human rights defender does not include an exhaustive list but refers to “individuals, groups and associations in contributing to, the effective elimination of all violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of peoples and individuals” [1], including both those being remunerated and working as volunteers, and can include doctors and other medical professionals.[2]

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

You can choose to answer all or some of the questions below. 

1. What legal and/or professional frameworks govern the practice of medicine and provision of healthcare in your country? How are such frameworks developed and how do they impact the ability of individuals to become and/or register as health and care workers?
2. Are there other groups or individuals providing health and care services that are not governed by said frameworks and/or are not contemplated by professional associations but provide such care? If so, please provide information on their situation(s).
3. Do laws and policies (including but not limited to labour-specific provisions) offer adequate protections and effective remedy to ensure that health and care workers are fairly treated? What are the experiences or conditions of study/work for health and care workers in your country?
4. Are human rights and the understanding of the right to health included and expressed in structured learning and curriculum in order to support health and care workers in their roles as human rights defenders, at the local, national, regional, and international levels?
5. What is the situation of women, persons with disabilities, older persons, Indigenous Peoples, Black people, LGBTIQ+, transgender and gender-diverse persons health and care workers in your country? Is there racial/gender parity in undergraduate, postgraduate, employment and leadership roles in the sector? Please provide disaggregated data where available.
6. Are there laws and policies in your country that impact the ability of health and care workers to provide accessible, affordable, acceptable, quality health care services (e.g. in contexts such as abortions, drug use, infectious diseases and pandemics including COVID-19, health needs of particular groups including women, LGBTIQ+, transgender and gender-diverse persons, migrants and refugees, persons living in rural areas, sex workers, inter alia)? If so, how do these laws and policies impact the ability of health and care workers to support the realisation of the right to health for these populations?
7. How do health and care workers defend the right to health both in their daily work and in situations of conflict or crises, including climate-related events, natural disasters, pandemics, genocide, times of civil unrest, and mass protests, inter alia?
8. Please share examples of reprisals and acts committed against health and care workers related to their work defending the right to health and related rights (e.g. attacks, targeting of health and care workers, their families, colleagues, or institutions, detention, other means of pressure).
9. Are there economic policies or other factors that negatively impact your country’s health system (including access to medicines, vaccines, and other health products), and consequently undermine the ability of health and care workers to provide available, acceptable, accessible, and quality healthcare services?
10. Please share any good practices and examples of investments in the professional and personal development of health and care workers. Is mental well-being a priority in your country?

How inputs will be used?

Please note that all responses will be published on the official webpage of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur by default. 

1. Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Declaration on Human Rights Defenders) at preambular para. 4 (A/RES/53/144)

2. About human rights defenders | OHCHR