World Health Report, Background Paper | June 9, 2010
Read the PublicationA population’s health and wellbeing is primarily a national responsibility. Every state owes all of its inhabitants a comprehensive package of essential health goods and services under its obligations to respect, protect, and fulfil the human right to health. Yet health is also a global responsibility. Every state has a duty to ensure a safe and healthy world, with particular attention to the needs of the world’s poorest people. Improving health and reducing unconscionable health inequalities is both an international obligation under the human right to health and a matter of global social justice.