University of New South Wales - The Initiative for Health and Human Rights

As an academic-based entity, the IHHR is committed to disseminating knowledge and information through education and training. Members of the different Faculties contributing to the IHHR are engaged in teaching courses and seminars relevant to health and human rights. Additionally, under the NewSouth Global Professor of Health and Human Rights, the IHHR is conducting lectures and seminars across Faculties, developing courses and supervising Doctoral and Post-Doctoral candidates on the specific topic of Health and Human Rights. Beyond the University boundaries, the IHHR is engaging with the general public and civil society organisations through conferences, public presentations, and publications.

The IHHR hosted Australia's first intensive short course on Health, Development and Human Rights from 16-20 July 2007 for both professional and UNSW student participants. This successful course was created and taught by the multi-faculty IHHR, which derives its members from the Faculties of Medicine, Arts and Social Sciences and Law and included pre-eminent international speakers A/Prof. Sofia Gruskin, Harvard School of Public Health and Prof. Paul Hunt, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. The course established the key concepts and frameworks of the three domains of health, development and human rights, before exploring the reciprocal links between the three fields and developing this understanding through practical case studies in daily workshops. The course report describes key successes and achievements of this course.

Some comments on the course from a range of participants have also been included, to provide some insight into the learning outcomes achieved and the course's relevance for those looking to use rights-based approaches in their specific fields.

Some of the key presentations from guest speakers at the Opening Session of this course are now available on the web. Mr. Tom Calma, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, has kindly made his speech on 'The Right to Health of Indigenous Australians' available on the following website: http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about/media/speeches/social_justice/2007/right_to_health_of_indigenous_australians.html

Prof. Sue Kippax, the retiring Director of the National Centre for HIV Social Research has also made her speech, 'Reflections of a Social Scientist doing HIV Social Research' available at the Centre's website: http://nchsr.arts.unsw.edu.au/

The IHHR is hosting the next Intensive Course on Health, Development and Human Rights from 8th - 12th December 2008. Further course details are available here. Subscribing to IHHR News (our quarterly e-mail newsletter at ihhr@unsw.edu.au) will provide you with future intensive course updates.