Toward The Viewpoint of the Most in Need. Health as a Human Right. “Every Careful Survey, Across Boundaries of Time and Space, Shows Us That the Poor Are Sicker Than the Non-Poor” (Farmer, p. 140).
Maree Sugai
Abstract
Health as a human right has been equivocated, denied, and circumrotated in global health policies across the
world with a view of social justice designed from a sociocentric viewpoint of to whom and where we prioritize.
This paper discusses Paul Farmer’s contributions in bringing into question the rationale of perspectives from
which we deliver equity within medical care delivery, advocating the implementation of a combined five
viewpoints from which such equity can be ethically and responsibly delivered. This paper argues that a neutral
position of cultural or moral relativity in the face of poverty is inequitable; that dimensions of poverty must be
taken into consideration in global funding allocations; that structural barriers within communities must be
weighted in favor of resource distribution, and that the central value of ethical consideration lies in a pragmatic
solidarity toward the viewpoint of the most in need.
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