The panel. Speaking: Hon. Mark Ridley-Thomas, Member, Board of Supervisors, 2nd District. Also note second from left: Frank Donahue, CEO, Physicians for Human Rights, second from right Dr. Richard Baker, Dean of School of Medicine, Charles Drew University of Medicine & Science and right most: Jim Mangia, President and CEO of St. John’s Well Child and Family Center.

Today’s blog comes from Devan Jaganath, a student from the University of California, Los Angeles, on the South Los Angeles Health and Human Rights Conference, an effort to improve health and healthcare in LA.

Here, there is a 30% uninsured rate. Here, there are 1.1 HIV/STD centers per 100,000 people. Here, there are 11 pediatricians per 100,000 people.

In a warehouse in South Los Angeles, I hear the stories of patients we fail to serve…

To see a doctor at the health center in South Los Angeles, you have to line up by 4 AM. If you don’t have an appointment, they only have 10 slots, so you may be in line all day, without food, waiting.

In the United States, there is a palpable struggle to establish a right to health. Yet, if you listen to those affected by this crisis, you can see easily its necessity. California, the state where I was born and raised, has cut 2 billion dollars in health services in an effort to close its crippling budget problems. Recently, the California board agreed to eliminate insurance coverage for 60,000 children through the Healthy Families Program by October 1st. By June 2010, they will potentially terminate the insurance for over 600,000 children. With 921,000 children under the Healthy Families Program, it is clear to me that this is a violation of an individual’s right to health.

She had to pay $287 per month for health care for her son’s medical bills because she didn’t have insurance.

Almost 61 years ago the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations. Of its 30 articles, one is most cited by those in the field of health and human rights: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care…” While not an explicit treaty, the UDHR served as an international statement of what constitutes a human right.

There is a need to establish a similar document on a local level, where political leaders, community organizations and the residents commit themselves to health care reform. And that is exactly what is happening in South Los Angeles. Here, there is a 30% uninsured rate. Here, there are 1.1 HIV/STD centers per 100,000 people. Here, there are 11 pediatricians per 100,000 people. Yet, here you will find a community who is embracing the model of the UDHR to set a vision to improve the quality of their health care.

She slipped in the bathtub; after waiting in the emergency department for almost 24 hours in excruciating pain, she just went home.

In June, politicians, health care providers, advocates and residents convened for the South Los Angeles Health and Human Rights Conference. In the spirit of the UDHR, they discussed what it means for health to be a human right and set the framework to draft a document that would guide their future initiatives. Just this weekend I attended a follow up meeting, as both patients and community groups worked together to establish their needs and develop concrete goals for improving their health services. In addition to health care access, there are committees that address other determinants of health, including housing, employment, nutrition and public safety. It is in these groups that you hear from the residents, lamenting about their inexcusable wait times and exorbitant costs to health care. At the same time, these problems can be directly discussed with physicians and health administrators as they collaborate on feasible solutions. And it’s not only the community that supports this initiative; it is being endorsed by national organizations such as Partners in Health, Physicians for Human Rights and National Physicians Alliance.

As a diabetic, she lost vision in her right eye because she didn’t have health services. She was depressed and felt hopeless. It was only after receiving help from St. John’s Well Child and Family Center [One of the key organizers of this initiative] was she able to get the proper procedures to improve her vision while being enrolled in a program to help her control her diabetes.

As the nation continues to squabble about health care policies, the people of South Los Angeles have begun to set a foundation in their efforts. The South Los Angeles Declaration for Health and Human Rights optimizes an international framework to create change on a community level. As we traverse the daily flood of political debates and op-ed articles on the US health care crisis, it would serve us more to listen to these tales of human rights offenses, and learn how a 61-year-old document can continue to inspire and motivate us to do better.

To learn more about the South Los Angeles Declaration for Health and Human Rights, and to get involved, visit their website.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 11:17 am and is filed under Blog, Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.