The Challenge of Interdisciplinarity in Operationalizing the Right to Health

Interdisciplinary collaboration between the health and human rights communities is essential to operationalize the right to health. In practice, however, such collaboration has been infrequent. As noted by Jonathan Mann et al., the fields of health and human rights have “differing philosophical perspectives, vocabularies, professional recruitment and training, societal roles, and methods of work.” These differences have posed barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration. This article focuses on interdisciplinarity—especially between health and human rights communities—as key to realizing the right to health. Drawing on interviews with experts on health and human rights, the article explores the challenges of interdisciplinarity at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations (UN) agency charged with mainstreaming human rights, including the right to health, across the UN system. To operationalize the right to health, experts perceive the need (1) to move beyond legalistic concepts of the right to health; (2) to enhance appreciation of the right to health across UN agencies; (3) to employ health professionals at the OHCHR; (4) to develop deep expertise on the right to health to advise on operationalization; and (5) to understand the right to health as an expanded right that includes the social determinants of health.