Justice With Health

The need for informed analyses of health policy is now greater than ever. The twelve essays in this volume show that public debates routinely bypass complex ethical, sociocultural, historical, and political questions about how we should address ideals of justice and equality in health care. Integrating perspectives from the humanities, social sciences, medicine, and public health, this volume illuminates the relationships between justice and health inequalities to enrich debates. Understanding Health Inequalities and Justice explores three questions: How do scholars approach relations between health inequalities and ideals of justice? When do justice considerations inform solutions to health inequalities, and how do specific health inequalities affect perceptions of injustice? And how can diverse scholarly approaches contribute to better health policy? From addressing patient agency in an inequitable health care environment to examining how scholars of social justice and health care amass evidence, this volume promotes a richer understanding of health and justice and how to achieve both. The contributors are Judith C. Barker, Paula Braveman, Paul Brodwin, Jami Suki Chang, Debra DeBruin, Leslie A. Dubbin, Sarah Horton, Carla C. Keirns, J. Paul Kelleher, Nicholas B. King, Eva Feder Kittay, Joan Liaschenko, Anne Drapkin Lyerly, Mary Faith Marshall, Carolyn Moxley Rouse, Jennifer Prah Ruger, and Janet K. Shim.

Social factors have a powerful influence on human health and longevity. Yet the social dimensions of health are often obscured in public discussions due to the overwhelming focus in health policy on medical care, individual-level risk factor research, and changing individual behaviours. Likewise, in philosophical approaches to health and social justice, the debates have largely focused on rationing problems in health care and on personal responsibility. However, a range of events over the past two decades such as the study of modern famines, the global experience of HIV/AIDS, the international women’s health movement, and the flourishing of social epidemiological research have drawn attention to the robust relationship between health and broad social arrangements. In Health Justice, Sridhar Venkatapuram takes up the problem of identifying what claims individuals have in regard to their health in modern societies and the globalized world. Recognizing the social bases of health and longevity, Venkatapuram extends the ‘Capabilities Approach’ of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum into the domain of health and health sciences. In so doing, he formulates an inter-disciplinary argument that draws on the natural and social sciences as well as debates around social justice to argue for every human being’s moral entitlement to a capability to be healthy. An ambitious integration of the health sciences and the Capabilities Approach, Health Justice aims to provide a concrete ethical grounding for the human right to health, while advancing the field of health policy and placing health at the centre of social justice theory. With a foreword by Sir Michael Marmot, chair of the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.

This book brings together the latest thinking in social justice and health policy and seeks to integrate a capabilities perspective with the demands of health and economic policies that impact on health

"The best concise explanation of why the United States needs single-payer health care — and needs to widen the definition of health care itself."— The Washington Post Single payer healthcare is not complicated: the government pays for all care for all people. It’s cheaper than our current model, and most Americans (and their doctors) already want it. So what’s the deal with our current healthcare system, and why don’t we have something better? In Health Justice Now, Timothy Faust explains what single payer is, why we don’t yet have it, and how it can be won. He identifies the actors that have misled us for profit and political gain, dispels the myth that healthcare needs to be personally expensive, shows how we can smoothly transition to a new model, and reveals the slate of humane and progressive reforms that we can only achieve with single payer as the springboard. In this impassioned playbook, Faust inspires us to believe in a world where we could leave our job without losing healthcare for ourselves and our kids; where affordable housing is healthcare; and where social justice links arm-in-arm with health justice for us all.

Praise for Public Health and Social Justice "This compilation unifies ostensibly distant corners of our broad discipline under the common pursuit of health as an achievable, non-negotiable human right. It goes beyond analysis to impassioned suggestions for moving closer to the vision of health equity." —Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, Kolokotrones University Professor and chair, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School; co-founder, Partners In Health "This superb book is the best work yet concerning the relationships between public health and social justice." —Howard Waitzkin, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of New Mexico "This book gives public health professionals, researchers and advocates the essential knowledge they need to capture the energy that social justice brings to our enterprise." —Nicholas Freudenberg, DrPH, Distinguished Professor of Public Health, the City University of New York School of Public Health at Hunter College "The breadth of topics selected provides a strong overview of social justice in medicine and public health for readers new to the topic." —William Wiist, DHSc, MPH, MS, senior scientist and head, Office of Health and Society Studies, Interdisciplinary Health Policy Institute, Northern Arizona University "This book is a tremendous contribution to the literature of social justice and public health." —Catherine Thomasson, MD, executive director, Physicians for Social Responsibility "This book will serve as an essential reference for students, teachers and practitioners in the health and human services who are committed to social responsibility." —Shafik Dharamsi, PhD, faculty of medicine, University of British Columbia

Important links between health and human rights are increasingly recognised, and human rights can be viewed as one of the social determinants of health. A human rights framework provides an excellent foundation for advocacy on health inequalities, a value-based alternative to views of health as a commodity, and an opportunity to move away from public health action being based on charity. This text demystifies systems set up for the protection and promotion of human rights globally, regionally, and nationally. It explores the use and usefulness of rights-based approaches as an important part of the toolbox available to health and welfare professionals and community members working in a variety of settings to improve health and reduce health inequities. Global in its scope, Health Equity, Social Justice, and Human Rights presents examples from all over the world to illustrate the successful use of human rights approaches in fields such as HIV/AIDS, improving access to essential drugs, reproductive health, women’s health, and improving the health of marginalised and disadvantaged groups. Understanding human rights and their interrelationships with health and health equity is essential for public health and health promotion practitioners, as well as being important for a wide range of other health and social welfare professionals. This text is valuable reading for students, practitioners, and researchers concerned with combating health inequalities and promoting social justice.

"Social (In)Justice and Mental Health introduces readers to the concept of social justice and role that social injustice plays in the identification, diagnosis, and management of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Unfair and unjust policies and practices, bolstered by deep-seated beliefs about the inferiority of some groups, has led to a small number of people having tremendous advantages, freedoms, and opportunities, while a growing number are denied those liberties and rights. The book provides a framework for thinking about why these inequities exist and persist and provides clinicians with a road map to address these inequalities as they relate to racism, the criminal justice system, and other systems and diagnoses. Social (In)Justice and Mental Health addresses the context in which mental health care is delivered, strategies for raising consciousness in the mental health profession, and ways to improve treatment while redressing injustice"--

This volume develops a theory of social justice for the specific context of health care policy, although it can also be applied to education, economic development and other social policy issues where resources are limited.