Case study: The Health and Human Rights Programme

Hodgkinson-Williams, Cheryl

Case study: The Health and Human Rights Programme

Working Paper

2009-02-28

Publisher

University of Cape Town

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Abstract

This case study provides an overview of the Health and Human Rights Project (HHRP), which was established and run collaboratively by the University of Cape Town’s School of Public Health and Family Medicine and a human rights NGO, the Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture from 1997 to 1999, to devise a submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on health-related issues. The HHRP subsequently assisted the organisation of the commission’s health-sector hearings. This collaboration resulted in the publication of a book based on the submissions and stimulated the inclusion of human rights in undergraduate teaching. After the project closed in 1999, the focus of the department shifted to research on human rights issues and the training of university educators of health professionals. The HHRP provided the basis for the development of the Health and Human Rights Division within the School of Public Health and Family Medicine.