The Right to Health: A View from the Capability Approach

Abstract

Objective: 1) to identify the idea of acceptance or rejection of health as a requirement for social justice in the libertarian theses of John Rawls or in his liberal egalitarian tradition. 2) to analyze the theoretical ideologies of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, which are elements in favor of the protection of health and enjoyment as part of the rights that should be recognized by society as a response to social justice issues. Methodology: a philosophical research that critically examines the moral and political foundations supporting the recognition of the right to health as a requirement of social justice. Results: in the Rawlsian project the basic structure of society must distribute certain 'primary goods', things that are presumed to be desired by every rational being in order to develop life plans. Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum propose the approach of basic human capabilities. The former justifies these primary goods in terms of freedom, and the latter as basic requirements for a decent life. Nussbaum justifies a list of ten capabilities that includes life, physical health and physical integrity; all of which are directly related to health. Thus the protection of health becomes a necessary condition for social justice. The capabilities approach introduces the idea of a threshold for each capacity, below which it is considered that citizens can not function in a truly human way. Conclusions: Health Protection, instrumentalized through the health system, is necessary for the development of a life that each individual values for their own reasons. Their protection must be within the minimum thresholds for justice and the social goal should be understood as ensuring that citizens are above this set of capabilities among which health can be counted.