This course conveys general concepts, and principles of human rights approaches within the health sector to “leave no one behind”, a concept that has become more challenging to realize in times of uncertain global health financing. The course combines theoretical knowledge with practical application through case studies and examples by health and legal experts and health advocates.

Course participants will gain a deeper understanding of human rights and the right to health, Global Health and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the WHO pandemic agreement and intellectual property in the context of access to medicines. We are thrilled to have the former UN special rapporteur for the right to health, Anand Grover, present some of his legal landmark work on ensuring access to affordable treatment and provide more background on key treaties. We will discuss the right to health in relation to access to essential drugs and services, drug patents, disability, migration, drug use and detention through expert inputs and exchanges. An excursion to a local refugee centre in order to gain practical insights into the right to health for refugees is part of the course as well as visiting the only historical TB museum in Germany to gain a deeper understanding and enable comparison of how this disease was dealt with in the past compared to nowadays.

• Human Rights, Global Health, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 
• Access to Medicines, Intellectual Property Rights, and the Right to Health 
• Health Policy and Practise: 
  • Country examples 
  • The right to health applied in special fields (Health in remote areas/crisis situations, Disability, Mental Health/Illness, Drug Use, Detention) 
• WHO Pandemic Treaty

By the end of the Course participants should be able to:

• Critically appraise the importance of the rights based approach in achieving the promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to “leave no one behind,” focusing on health related SDGs.
• Debate key international, national and regional mechanisms designed to protect and promote human rights within the health sector.
• Design strategies to advocate for and monitor the application of human rights principles in the health sector to achieve health related SDGs.