Today, we publish our new resource: The right to health in the UK – a toolkit for civil society organisations and activists. Grounded in the principles of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR), this toolkit offers practical resources to help individuals and organisations campaign for health justice across the UK.
Why this matters now
In December 2024, we published The right to health in the UK, a comprehensive report examining how well the UK is meeting its obligations under international human rights law.
The report highlighted serious gaps in access to healthcare and the wider conditions that support good health. This is despite the UK’s commitment to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which it ratified in 1976. Article 12 guarantees the right to the highest attainable standard of health.
Yet, as the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN CESCR) recently made clear, the UK must do far more to fulfil this obligation, including removing barriers to care and increasing investment in health services.
About the toolkit
This toolkit is a response to these challenges. It is designed to support civil society organisations, campaigners and community groups in using human rights to demand change. It includes:
- Explainers on the right to health.
- Elements of a rights-based approach to health.
- An overview of why and how the right to health is being eroded across the UK.
- Resources to hold the UK Government accountable for its right to health obligations.
- Resources on how to hold local authorities accountable, with a focus on England.
- Key messages and tools to campaign for the right to health.
- Examples of past campaigns on the right to health.
Looking ahead
Community action is at the heart of the fight for the right to health – a struggle that is part of the broader movement for economic, social and cultural rights in the UK. It begins with all of us, working together for justice and accountability.
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