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Health and Human Rights Journal

Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health is proud to be co-publishing the Health and Human Rights Journal in collaboration with the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.

Health and Human Rights began publication in 1994 under the editorship of Dornsife's founding dean, Dr. Jonathan Mann. Drexel Dornsife has co-published the journal since 2019.

Health and Human Rights Journal

Health and Human Rights provides an inclusive forum for action-oriented dialogue among human rights practitioners. The journal endeavors to increase access to human rights knowledge in the health field by linking an expanded community of readers and contributors.

Following the lead of a growing number of open access publications, the full text of Health and Human Rights is available for free to anyone with internet access.

Health and Human Rights focuses rigorous scholarly analysis on the conceptual foundations and challenges of rights discourse and action in relation to health. The journal is dedicated to empowering new voices from the field — highlighting the innovative work of groups and individuals in direct engagement with human rights struggles as they relate to health.

We seek to foster engaged scholarship and reflective activism. In doing so, we invite informed action to realize the full spectrum of human rights.

Read the Health and Human Rights Journal

Dornsife Research and Viewpoints Featured in the Health and Human Rights Journal

AIDS 2024: Decriminalizing Sex Work is a Human Rights Imperative

July 29, 2024 —  An article by Olivia Cordingley, LMSW, a doctoral student in the Department of Community Health and Prevention, summarized a panel discussion from the AIDS 2024 conference.

Thirty Years of Scholarship and Debate: Advancing the Right to Health

June 10, 2024 —  An editorial co-authored by Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Director of Global Health, introduces a special section that commemorates HHR Journal's 30th anniversary.

Drone Attacks on Health in 2023: International Humanitarian Law and the Right to Health

June 7, 2024 —  A viewpoint co-authored by Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Director of Global Health, summarizes the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition and Insecurity Insight's reported findings on drone attacks.

Realizing the Right to Health: A Long and Winding Road

December 10, 2023 —  An editorial by Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Director of Global Health, published in the December 2023 issue, reflects on the importance of keeping the right to health central to public health.

Health and Human Rights Journal Announces Amon as Editor-in-Chief

November 8, 2023 — Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Director of the Office of Global Health, has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Health and Human Rights Journal.

No Exit: China’s State Surveillance over People Who Use Drugs

June 8, 2022 — Nina Sun, JD, Assistant Clinical Professor and Deputy Director of Global Health, and Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Director of the Office of Global Health, collaborated with Mu Lin, a scholar based in Beijing, to examine China’s digital surveillance of people arrested for drug use.

Pandemic Treaty Should Include Reporting in Prisons

April 7, 2022 — Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Director of the Office of Global Health, co-authored this viewpoint piece that shines a light on how the "pandemic treaty" must consider vulnerable populations.

Forgotten Behind Bars: COVID-19 and Palestinian Prisoners Detained in Israel

February 2, 2022 — Yazid Barhoush, MPH student and Dornsife International Research Fellow, wrote about human rights obligations on Israel to release Palestinian prisoners.

Addressing Stigma is Not Enough

January 27, 2022 — Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Director of the Office of Global Health and Nina Sun, JD, Assistant Clinical Professor and Deputy Director of Global Health, joined Alexandrina Iovita, Ralf Jurgens, and Joanne Csete in co-authoring this article asserting that programs need to recognize discrimination as a human rights issue.

Supreme Court v. Necropolitics: The Chaotic Judicialization of COVID-19 in Brazil

June 16, 2021 — Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Director of the Office of Global Health, along with João Bieh and Lucas E. A. Prates, assess the potential impact of Brazil's judiciary on addressing systemic violence and advancing human rights.

A Virtual Roundtable on Equitable COVID-19 Vaccine Access

May 20, 2021 — Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Director of the Office of Global Health, and Els Torreele, Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London, talked with leading health experts and activists about the battle for COVID vaccine equity, the challenges, opportunities, lessons learned from previous access battles, and progress being made.

A Time for Optimism? Biden’s LGBTQ Support Provides Hope, but Highlights Persistent Social Exclusion

February 28, 2021 — Dornsife researchers write that Pete Buttigieg’s historic appointment as the first openly LGBTQ cabinet member in the United States and Dr. Rachel Levine’s potential to become the first openly transgender person to receive Senate confirmation of a presidential pick do indeed raise hope. However, LGBTQ people are underrepresented in the Biden administration, and in elected and appointed government positions in general.

Human Rights and Digital Health Technologies

December 8, 2020 — Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Director of the Office of Global Health; Nina Sun, JD, Assistant Clinical Professor and Deputy Director of Global Health; Kenechukwu Esom; and Mandeep Dhaliwal outline key harms related to digital technologies for health, as well as ethical and human rights standards relevant to their use.

A Virtual Roundtable with Special Rapporteurs on the Right to Health

September 8, 2020 Dornsife's Director of the Office of Global Health, Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, co-moderated a discussion with the past and current United Nations experts (“special rapporteurs”) on the right to health.

Right-to-Medicines Litigation and Universal Health Coverage: Institutional Determinants of the Judicialization of Health in Brazil

June 18, 2020 – Research co-authored by Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Director of the Office of Global Health, demonstrates that the Public Defender’s Office plays an important role in right-to-health litigation, expanding it to geographically and socioeconomically diverse environments.

Applying Siracusa: A Call for a General Comment on Public Health Emergencies

April 23, 2020 – Viewpoint by Nina Sun, JD, Assistant Clinical Professor and Deputy Director of Global Health. Sun calls on HRC for a General Comment on Siracusa for practical guidance in crises like COVID to protect human rights and hold states accountable.

A Virtual Roundtable on COVID-19 and Human Rights with Human Rights Watch Researchers

April 16, 2020 – Virtual Roundtable on human rights and COVID around the world and emerging concerns such as police brutality, authoritarian rule, older people's rights, and privacy.

COVID-19 and Detention: Respecting Human Rights

March 24, 2020  Dornsife's Director of the Office of Global Health, Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, says detention centers and prisons must take steps now to limit COVID-19 spread in confined and crowded conditions, in this piece for the Health and Human Rights Journal.

Dornsife Partners with Harvard T.H. Chan SPH on Health and Human Rights Journal

December 10, 2019 This new partnership not only celebrates the shared history of the two schools, it is also an opportunity for both institutions to communicate, through the journal, in ways that will increase the impact of each institution’s work advancing research, practice and important discussions about health and human rights, while moving forward with Mann’s original mission for the journal.

25 Years: Exploring the Health and Human Rights Journey

December 9, 2019 – Editorial dedicated to founding editor Jonathan Mann and to Albina du Boisrouvray. Authors include Dean Ana Diez Roux, MD, PhD, MPH, and Director of the Office of Global Health, Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH.

Respect, Protect, and Fulfill or Reject, Neglect, and Regress? Children’s Rights in the Time of the Russian “Gay Propaganda Law

October 1, 2019 – Research by C. H. Voyles, MPH, PhD student in Community Health and Prevention, and Mariana Chilton, PhD, MPH, Professor and Director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities.

All Issues of the Health and Human Rights Journal