Inclusion and human rights in health policies: comparative and benchmarking analysis of 51 policies from Malawi, Sudan, South Africa and Namibia.

While many health services strive to be equitable, accessible and inclusive, peoples' right to health often goes unrealized, particularly among vulnerable groups. The extent to which health policies explicitly seek to achieve such goals sets the policy context in which services are delivered and evaluated. An analytical framework was developed--EquiFrame--to evaluate 1) the extent to which 21 Core Concepts of human rights were addressed in policy documents, and 2) coverage of 12 Vulnerable Groups who might benefit from such policies. Using this framework, analysis of 51 policies across Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Sudan, confirmed the relevance of all Core Concepts and Vulnerable Groups. Further, our analysis highlighted some very strong policies, serious shortcomings in others as well as country-specific patterns. If social inclusion and human rights do not underpin policy formation, it is unlikely they will be inculcated in service delivery. EquiFrame facilitates policy analysis and benchmarking, and provides a means for evaluating policy revision and development.

EquiFrame: a framework for analysis of the inclusion of human rights and vulnerable groups in health policies.

Ensuring that health policies uphold core concepts of human rights and are inclusive of vulnerable groups are imperative aspects of providing equity in health care, and of realizing the United Nations' call for Health for All. We outline the process of extensive consultation undertaken across countries and stakeholders culminating in the development of EquiFrame, in conjunction with its associated definitions of core concepts of human rights and vulnerability. EquiFrame is a systematic policy analysis framework that assesses the degree to which 21 core concepts of human rights and 12 vulnerable groups are mentioned and endorsed in health policy documents. We illustrate the scope of the framework by reporting the results of its application to two health policy documents from (Northern) Sudan: the rather generalist Health Policy of (Northern) Sudan, and the more specific National Drug Policy of (Northern) Sudan. We outline some limitations of the framework and highlight issues for considerationin its interpretation. EquiFrame offers a systematic approach to analyzing andfacilitating the inclusion of core concepts of human rights and vulnerability in existing or developing health policies and ultimately to promoting greater equity in health care.