On 17 March, the Thammasat University Faculty of Public Health will host its seventh Annual International Conference on New Voices in Global Health and Development.

This year’s theme is Human Rights and Equity in Global Health.

The Thammasat University Library owns several books about health and human rights.

In addition, TU students may access the library’s research databases for the latest up-to-date information in this field.

As the conference webpage explains:

The purpose of the Conference is to provide a forum where new global health approaches and ideas can be considered and debated. In addition, it is intended to offer students an opportunity to publish their work in interested journals. This conference will consist of a keynote speech, oral presentations, and poster presentations.

The conference will be held at the Global Citizen Hall, Room No. A2003 on the second floor of the Learning and Laboratory Building (Piyachart 2) at Rangsit campus.

Serious concerns

As the website of the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Thailand to the United Nations indicates,

Thailand has a rich history as a land of freedom and diversity. Thailand was among the first 48 countries to endorse the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The Royal Thai Government respects fundamental freedoms and basic human rights. This reflects in the Constitution of Thailand (interim) (2014), which protects all human dignity, rights, liberties and equality of the people under a democratic regime of government with the King as the Head of State…

To effectively implement these international human rights obligations, Thailand has enacted national laws and National Human Rights Plan. The preparation of the 3rd National Human Rights Plan (2014-2018) is based on a participatory approach involving all parties concerned and representatives of all provinces across the country. Moreover, the Plan incorporates the recommendations under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) adopted by Thailand. The Plan identifies 11 human rights dimensions such as public health, education and economic rights. It also identifies 15 target groups such as people living in poverty, older persons, children and youth, women, and persons with disabilities…

The UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders or the Bangkok Rules owes its origin to Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand, who has worked tirelessly for the cause of women prisoners in Thailand. As a Public Prosecutor and from her work and contacts with women inmates, Her Royal Highness realized that the 1955 UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (or the SMR) do not sufficiently address the needs of women prisoners. Such needs are very specific and multi-dimensional, ranging from personal hygiene and reproductive health to psychological and mental care. In addition, many women prisoners are also pregnant women, or mothers with child-rearing responsibilities, or breast-feeding mothers.

Another official publication is available from the Department of Rights and Liberties Protection of the Ministry of Justice.

Listed among examples of Promotion and Support for the Implementation of the National Human Rights Plan are the following:

Developed model agencies to drive the National Human Rights Plan to implementation, which can be replicated by other agencies, e.g. (9.1) Ministry of Public Health – mechanisms established are in the form of The Committee for Policy and Strategies on Human Rights with Regard Public Health, and the formulation of “Strategies on Human Rights with Regard Public Health 2011-2017”…

Ministry of Public Health – mechanisms established were in the form of The Ministerial Committee for Policy and Strategies on Human Rights in Public Health, and a Task Force to set policy and strategies on human rights with regard public health, by the order No. 108/2010 dated 21 January 2010 and by the Committee’s order No.1/2010 dated 7 July 2010, which were then formulated as “Strategies on Human Rights in Public Health 2011-2017” for Thailand as a whole.

Among the The 10 Human Rights Aspects to Drive the Plan into Action is the Right to health: Every person has equal right to receive quality and effective public health services, regardless of his/her ability to pay for the services, which should be provided free of charge.

All TU students will be familiar with The Quality of Life of a Southeast Asian, also known as From Womb to Tomb, one of the best-known writings by Dr. Puey Ungphakorn, former TU rector and Dean of the TU Faculty of Economics. Dr. Puey expressed his idea of conditions for a good life that human societies should strive to achieve for its members. These include:

I want to enjoy good health, and I expect the Government to provide free preventive medical service and cheap and readily available good curative service.  

Published sources

Students interested in researching the theme of this year’s conference might look at the publication BMC International Health and Human Rights.

As its website notes,

BMC International Health and Human Rights is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on the influences of human rights violations on health in developing and transitional countries, as well as all issues relating to the impact of health policies, programs and practices on human rights.

All articles published by BMC International Health and Human Rights are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication, without subscription charges or registration barriers.

By doing a search for Thailand on the site, we find that many articles are focused on health and human rights in the Kingdom. Ordering them by date, among the most recent is an Open Access research article published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth volume 20 on 19 February 2020, Estimation of the adolescent pregnancy rate in Thailand 2008–2013: an application of capture-recapture method.

It was coauthored by Dr. Bunyarit Sukrat of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, and many colleagues.

The article’s abstract includes the following observation:

Adolescent pregnancy is an important health and social issue that affects both individual and social well-being. However, deriving a national estimate is challenging in a country with multiple incomplete national databases especially the abortion statistics. The objective of this study was to estimate the adolescent pregnancy rates in Thailand using capture-recapture method.

The article’s conclusion:

CRC method indicated that estimated adolescent pregnancy rates were much higher than the adolescent birth rates reported in Public Health Statistics. These two indicators should be used altogether for country situation analysis and strategic planning. This method can be applied not only in Thailand, but also other countries with similar contexts.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)