Litigating the Right to Health in Africa

Ebenezer Durojaye is involved in research and advocacy works on issues relating to socio-economic rights, including the rights to housing and health in Africa. His areas of interest include focusing on human rights issues raised by access to HIV/AIDS treatment, intersection between gender inequality and HIV/AIDS response in Africa, women’s health and adolescents sexual and reproductive rights in Africa. He is one of the Independent Experts of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights for the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) and those at Risk, Vulnerable to and Affected by HIV. He is co-editor of Strengthening Sexual and Reproductive Health as Human Rights in Africa Pretoria University Law Press (2014). From 2012-2014 he provided technical support to the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

• Preface; Introduction: the relevance of health rights litigation in Africa, Ebenezer Durojaye. Part I The Normative Framework on the Right to Health: The normative framework on the right to health under international human rights law, Olubayo Oluduro and Ebenezer Durojaye; A human rights-based approach to realising access to sexual and reproductive health rights in sub-Saharan Africa, Gladys Mirugi-Mukundi. Part II Country Case Studies: The domestic legal enforcement of the right to health in Malawi: appraising the litigation potential, Enoch MacDonnell Chilemba; Litigating the right to health care in South Africa, Emma Justine Broster; Litigating the right to health in Uganda: the necessity for innovation and activism, Salima Namusobya; Litigating health rights issues: the Nigerian experience, Josephine Odikpo and Ebenezer Durojaye; The right to health in Mauritius: is the state doing enough or is the constitutional protection of the right to health still required?, Amar Roopanand Mahadew; Litigating the right to health in Kenya: an analysis of selected cases, Jacinta Nyachae and Paul Ogendi; Challenges in litigating the right to health in Mozambique: a critical analysis, Satang Nabaneh. Part III Comparative Regional Study: Keeping promises: litigation as a strategy to concretise the right to health in Africa, Judy A. Oder; The protection of the right to health through individual petitions before the inter-American system of human rights, Oscar Parra-Vera. Index.

’For the continent where the right to health matters most, least is known about the use and potential use of litigation. Scholars invariably refer to the South African Soobramoney and Treatment Action Campaign cases, while only insiders are aware of litigation in other African countries. Ebenezer Durojaye sets out to change this, and achieves his goal.’ Gorik Ooms, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium ’This book makes an important contribution to ongoing discussions at both the regional and global level about what role courts can play in bringing greater justice and accountability to health systems. The diverse examples demonstrate how far thinking and advocacy on the right to health have evolved within the African context in the last fifteen years, and how they continue to do so. The thoughtful analyses of how to approach continuing obstacles bear further reflection not just from the legal community, but from multiple communities engaged in health reforms designed to move toward universal health coverage.’ Alicia Ely Yamin, Harvard University, USA ’This book fills a gap in scholarship and is invaluable to readership from a multiplicity of sectors including scholars, students, human rights defenders, policymakers and lay people wishing to acquaint themselves with the place of litigation in giving vitality to the right to health in the African region.’ Charles Ngwena, University of Pretoria, South Africa