Originally slated to be an all-day event, due to Covid-19, our Health and Human Rights Summit was developed into a webinar series that launched on April 20, 2020.

A special thank you to the National Black Talk Association for Education & Talent Development, Inc. for sponsoring the health and human rights virtual series.

Background:

About the Health and Human Institute at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights

In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” Acting upon these words, NCCHR began exploring the process of creating a Health and Human Rights Institute in December of 2018.  The pre-launch phase of the Institute commenced on July 15, 2019.

The Institute applies international human rights norms and treaties as guiding posts for its work. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care...” Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expounds on the right to adequate health as follows: “… the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”

During the 2019-2020 pre-launch phase, the Institute aims to highlight the international human rights principle of Health as a Human Right.  To that end, the Institute will collaborate with leaders in the field, connect with the target population and organize public discussions on topics such as Mental Health in Marginalized Communities; Human Rights and access to clean water, climate change and other environmental factors; and Human Rights Training for current and future medical professionals.

Vision:

Eradicating the factors that lead to health disparities among marginalized populations.

Differentiating Factors from Existing Institutes:

  • Many existing health and human rights initiatives in the U.S. are housed in colleges and universities. Convening events at and through the National Center for Civil and Human Rights will allow the Institute to disseminate health and human rights work directly to the general population, many of whom fall outside of academic communities and networks, but who are desperately in need of the information; and

  • the Institute will connect with the various existing health and human rights initiatives across the country to serve as a hub for this work.

Mission:

To research, teach, evaluate and advocate for policies and practices that remove health disparities for disadvantaged members of racial, ethnic, geographic, socioeconomic, presently or formerly imprisoned population groups and other marginalized communities in the United States using human rights principles and norms.

Health and Human Rights Institute Advisory Committee:

  • Maya Watson JD, LLM in International Human Rights Law - Health and Human Rights Fellow

  • Dr. Angelica Geter Ferguson - City of Atlanta Chief Health Officer

  • Juliet Sorensen - Northwestern; NCCHR Board Member

  • Jill Savitt - NCCHR CEO; ex officio

  • Brian Tolleson - NCCHR Board Member

  • Alistar Bazaz - Bank of America Merrill Lynch; NCCHR Board Member

  • Daniel E. Dawes, J.D. - Morehouse School of Medicine’s Director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and Associate Lead for Government Relations

  • W. Imara Canady - National Director of Communications and Community Engagement for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation

  • Dr. Sandra E. Ford - Fulton County Board of Health, Interim District Health Director; Dekalb County Fire Rescue Department, Acting Medical Director; DeKalb County District Health Director

  • Renato Barucco - Columbia University - New York

  • Jessica D. Contreras - Community Healthcare Network - New York

  • Dr. Michael Best - Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Dabney Evans - Emory University Rollins School of Public Health

  • Dr. Barbara Taylor - University of Texas Health Science Center – San Antonio

  • Dr. David Malebranche - Morehouse College

  • P. Faith Carmichael - Lead, Stakeholder Communications for the Center of Disease Control and Preventions’s Center for Global Health

  • Chris Federico - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

  • Mary Anne Ericson - Wellstar Health System

  • Brian Citro - Northwestern University

  • Tamar Ezer - University of Miami

  • Mihir Mankad - Center for Economic and Social Rights - New York

  • Ryan Roemerman - Executive Director, LGBTQ Institute and Director of Innovation, NCCHR

  • Cara E. Yar Khan - Advocate - Atlanta