Provisions for Health and Health Care in the Constitutions of the Countries of the World

At a time of renewed interest in the international human right to health, it is useful to identify and examine the provisions of the constitutions of the countries of the world regarding health and health care. These provisions indicate a national commitment to progress toward the assurance of access to high quality and affordable health care for national populations. Also, such constitutional provisions might well be important factors in the international campaign to promote the recognition and implementation of the international human right to health domestically throughout the world. This article reports findings of an empirical analysis of the provisions of the constitutions of the countries of the world that address health and health care. This article also examines other indices of national commitment to health and health care. Specifically, ratification of ICESCR and relevant regional human rights treaties are presented, as well as national performance in allocating budgetary resources towards health and health care. This article concludes that the national commitment to health and health care is not highly related to whether or not a nation's constitution addresses health or health care specifically. Nevertheless, the fact that 67.5 percent of the constitutions of all nations have provisions regarding health and health care is important for efforts to promote recognition and implementation of the international human right to health.