Abstract:
A rights-based approach to health helps to address health equity gaps. While
several aspects of health as a human right exist, this chapter highlights particular
indicators relevant to shaping a human rights approach to maternal and child health
in Ethiopia. These indicators include recognition of the right to health; national
health plan; accessible and acceptable health-care services; accountability; and a
civil society that draws on the agency of vulnerable groups. Probing the extent to
which the Ethiopian health system includes these features, this chapter identifies
that the Federal Constitution does not adequately recognize maternal and child
health as a human right. While identifying the positive developments of increased
access to women’s and children’s health-care services in Ethiopia, the chapter also
charts problems that limit further improvement, including health workers’ inability
from making the right health-care decisions; extreme gaps in ensuring accountability; and a restrictive law that restrains social mobilization for a proper health rights
movement. The chapter concludes by providing recommendations to the government of Ethiopia that addressing these problems using a rights-based approach
offers an alternative pathway for the progressive realization of the right to health of
women and children, and it thereby improves health inequities in the country.
Keywords: a rights-based approach, health, maternal, child, Ethiopia
