Student Advocacy

Health and Human Rights Education

Introduction

Health professionals are obligated not only to protect and care for individual patients but also to promote the basic rights to life and a healthy standard of living, grounded in dignity, for all. Incorporating a health and human rights framework in the academic setting promotes a rights-based culture in the health professions and helps students become better informed and more effective advocates.

The PHR Student Program's Health and Human Rights Education Project (HHR Ed) provides you with educational content and organizational resources and also supports student and faculty efforts to incorporate a health and human rights paradigm into the academic work through initiatives.

The Health and Human Rights Education Project focuses on Curriculum Change & Elective Creation. Introduce a new human rights-related elective to your class offerings, or join the discussion in your school's update of its curriculum to encourage the inclusion of human rights facets into appropriate classes.

Other ways to get involved in the HHR Ed Project:

• Self-Education: Use our educational tools, such as the readings, videos, slideshows, and audio pieces, to teach yourself about the link between health education and a human rights understanding.
• Health & Human Rights Teach-in: Utilize our educational materials in addition to resources provided by our collaborators to teach a class, lead a workshop, or host a forum at schools and community groups in your area.
• Supplementary Educational Programming: Tie in accompanying human rights programming to relevant medical classes, such as symposiums, journal clubs or film groups, roundtable lecture series, etc.

bSpace: Valuable Resource in HHR Ed

PHR is partnering with the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) to provide health and human rights educational content through Berkeley's web-based collaboration and learning environment, known informally as bSpace. Through bSpace, PHR chapter members can access syllabi, lecture and presentation slides, discussion guides, and readings on health and human rights topics ranging from "Human Rights Law and Governing Bodies" to "Medical Ethics in Armed Conflict." Email Danielle at students at phrusa dot org for instructions on accessing bSpace.

Other HHR Ed resources:

• Visit PHR's Student Blog - HHR Ed, for ideas, additional materials, and advisory pieces
• Read about Ways to Incorporate HHR in your School
• Check back for our Supplementary Educational Material Directory 
• Check back for Guides for Implementation Health & Human Rights in your school and student-created full curriculum.