While international and regional human rights instruments have recognized female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) as one of the most prevalent forms of violence against women and girls, in many African states FGM/C is a deeply entrenched cultural practice. There is a consensus against FGM, as...

International migration puts people's sexual and reproductive health (SRH), particularly those of women and children, at increased risk. However, many international migrants are denied access to timely and adequate SRH information, goods, and services by governments and/or service providers....

High maternal mortality ratios (MMR) serve as objective indicators of the poor condition of women's health in any country and point to violations of human rights that are entrenched in national, regional and global laws. For over a decade, Nigeria has consistently been in the top 5 listed...

The February 2016 WHO declaration that congenital Zika syndrome [CZS] constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern reacted to the outbreak of CZS in Brazil. Public health emergencies can justify a spectrum of human rights responses, but in Brazil the emergency exposed...

Individuals' reproductive choices are private matters, but sexual conduct and pregnancy impose significant public health burdens. Ethical principles of public health are distinguishable from principles applied in modern bioethics. Bioethical principles have been developed at the clinical or...

Adolescents, defined as between 10 and 19 years old, present a growing challenge to reproductive health. Adolescent sexual intercourse contributes to worldwide burdens of unplanned pregnancy, abortion, spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, and maternal mortality and...

To realize adolescents’ right to sexual health, state parties’ implementation of the obligations stipulated under Article 14 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa should reflect the key principles of the rights of the child,...

This paper examines the social security implications (and barriers to effective forward planning) posed by the means tests, gifting and private trusts/companies provisions governing payments made to people with cognitive or other severe disabilities, and their parental or other carers. It...

This Article examines state constitutions and health care rights. Notably, close to a third of states' constitutions recognize health while the U.S. Constitution contains no reference. Ample scholarly commentary exists on the absence of a right to health care under the U.S. Constitution but...

Clinicians, ethicists and lawyers have long debated the parameters of triage in response to the inevitable disasters that sporadically overwhelm the health care system. Almost universally, they have advocated for open, transparent and consultative triage protocols, guidelines and legislation to...