The Union’s Senior Advisor and Director of Research, Prof Anthony D Harries, co-authored a paper calling for human-rights based approaches to reaching tuberculosis (TB) patients lost to follow-up with colleagues from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in UK, the division of health research in the University of Lancaster in UK and the Stop TB Partnership in Kenya. Adherence to treatment is essential for global TB control, but public health laws can vary radically from voluntary measures to the detention of patients who do not complete treatment.
The study, which concentrates on TB cases in Kenya, was published in the Health and Human Rights Journal this month. Results show that patients who do not complete TB treatment are commonly incarcerated or detained in prison. These instances of public health legislation infringe on a person’s right to healthcare that is based upon informed consent, privacy, freedom from non-consensual treatment, freedom from inhumane and degrading treatment, and freedom of movement. Paradoxically, such measures can also worsen social inequalities and lead to an increased incidence of TB.
Public health laws must work to prevent the situations that cause patients to stop their treatment instead of punishing them for doing so. The paper advocates for strengthening health systems to reduce dependency on prisons as isolation spaces, decentralising TB treatment to communities, enhancing treatment education, revising public health laws, and addressing socio-economic and structural determinants associated with TB incidence and loss to follow-up.
Health and human rights have long been interconnected as the right to choice and public safety are put in the balance. The Stop TB Partnership recently held a judicial workshop in Kenya on TB, human rights and the law, recognising the importance of treating disease without losing sight of the humans who carry the infection.
The Union highlights similar issues in this paper, calling for public health legislation that provides citizens of all countries with the right to health, while not revoking patients’ right to freedom and human decency. It is fitting that national and international organisations such as The Union, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, the division of health research in Lancaster University and the Stop TB Partnership highlight these themes that will become increasingly important as we struggle with the growing incidence of drug resistance in the years to come.
Read the full paper here: Detention of People Lost to Follow-Up on TB Treatment in Kenya: The Need for Human Rights-Based Alternatives