INTRODUCTION 

HEALTH RIGHTS ARE VALUELESS IN THE ABSENCE OF HEALTH ACCESSABLITY

  Among human rights, health rights have a constant presence in all national Constitution or Bill of rights. In 1946 after many years of discussions the World Health Leaders agreed on the Alma Ata Declaration of “Health for All” which states that the enjoyment of the highest attainable status of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, and political belief, economic and social condition. Although much has been done to protect this right, there are still many constraints hindering the fulfillment of this crucial and noble goal? To this moment a considerable portion of the world’s population have little or no access to health care services. The growing gap between the rich and the poor, gender-based inequalities, educational and geographical disparities, all these together, have added significantly to ill health and hence to the world’s misery.  The marked deficiencies and inequalities in public health and primary health care services in many parts of the world have undermined the potential for sustainable development. In fact, virulent threats have eroded the prospects for any conceivable growth or progress in a huge portion of the world. These include: HIV/AIDS, Malaria and T.B., and the unfinished agenda of communicable diseases along with the emerging communicable and non-communicable diseases. Added to this, maternal and child mortalities, accidents, smoking, illicit drug use, nutritional problems and violence in all its forms present virulent challenges to health and development. Globalization and the free market policies have added dramatically to the health challenges of the 21st century.

My deep involvement in academia career has been complemented by a strong commitment to community service. Through our organized regular Humanitarian Missions which included distinguished group of the top Professors in Medicine , to the most unprivileged areas in Egypt for over a quarter of a century. We were jioned by many activist who had interest in improving health to their community. The workers in the health sector had a great faith in our mission. This worked out to be the most instructive educational programs that supported our vision for Health Reform.

These Humentrian Missions were able to give us first hand clear  insight of the misery and suffering of children, women and the disadvantaged group in Upper Egypt, rural and remote areas.  Also, it was through these missions that we were able to identify the real challenges for the Health System in Egypt. The inequality in access to health care around the country due to: gender, geographic and financial constraints exacerbates other existing problems. Despite an oversupply of physicians and beds for curative secondary and tertiary level care in urban areas, rural and poor areas suffer from lack of resources and high healthcare costs.

Poverty will remain the most serious problem that we are facing in the 21st century and Globalization resulted in negative effects on health, as it lead to increasing the gap between rich and poor and that made our challenges more formidable. Primarily, the double burden of combating illnesses is associated with poverty and lack of education coupled with the social and economic changes of a people rapidly developing and progressing. Additionally, a high birth rate is accompanied by a longer life expectancy added significantly to the rising pressures on the Egyptian Health System.