Chapter - 5 RIGHT TO HEALTH 5.1 There is no denial of the fact that of all the rights cherished by human beings, none is more fundamental than the ‘right to health’. This right is indispensable for the exercise of other human rights. Every human being is entitled to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health conducive to living a life of dignity. The human right to health is recognized in numerous international instruments. Among them the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) provides the most comprehensive article on the right to health in international human rights law. Article 12.1 of the Covenant affirms that the States Parties must recognize “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”, whereas Article 12.2 enumerates, by way of illustration, a number of “steps to be taken by the States Parties……..to achieve the full realization of this right”. Additionally, the right to health is recognized, inter alia, in Article 5 (e) (iv) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965 (ICERD), in Articles 11.1 (f) and 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 (CEDAW) and in Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 (CRC). 5.2 The right to health has also been proclaimed in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 1993 as well as in the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development held at Cairo in 1994 and other international instruments like the Declaration and Programme of Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. Moreover, right to health is closely related to and dependent upon the realization of other human rights, including rights related to food, housing, work, education, human dignity, life, non-discrimination, equality, privacy and access to information. These and other rights and freedoms address integral components of the right to health. 5.3 India is a State Party to all these Conventions, Declarations and Programmes of Action. The Constitution of India also upholds ‘right to health’ as a Fundamental Right under Article 21. Accordingly, the Commission has adopted a pro-active role with regard to right to health and has consistently taken the view that the State must ensure that the people of the country, in particular the vulnerable sections, have access to better and more comprehensive health care facilities. 5.4 During the year 2009-2010, the NHRC has primarily focussed on providing better medical services and health care facilities in tribal areas; ensuring quality assurance in mental health care; considering individual cases of all those affected by silicosis and simultaneously directing NHRC 59