Background
Method
A preliminary list of right-to-health indicators for breast cancer
Adapting existing right-to-health indicators to breast cancer
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An assessment of all sources of international law mentioning the right to health;
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A review of all existing projects at the time from international agencies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank;
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A consultation with experts including academics, UN bodies, national and local non-governmental organisations, health practitioners, lawyers, economists and anthropologists.
Constructing novel right-to-health indicators throughout the breast cancer pathway
Principle | Definition | International human rights law sources |
---|---|---|
Availability Accessibility Acceptability Quality (AAAQ)a | All health services, goods and facilities shall be available, accessible, acceptable and of good quality (AAAQ). The precise nature of these elements will depend on the conditions prevailing in a particular state Available: functioning public health and health-care facilities, goods and services, as well as programmes, have to be available in sufficient quantity within the state party. The precise nature will vary depending on numerous factors, including the state party’s development level Accessible: health facilities, goods and services have to be accessible to everyone without discrimination, within the jurisdiction of the state party. It includes: non-discrimination; physical accessibility; affordability and information accessibility Acceptable: all health facilities, goods and services must be respectful of medical ethics and culturally appropriate as well as being designed to respect confidentiality and improve the health status of those concerned Good quality: health facilities must be scientifically and medically appropriate and of good quality. This requires skilled medical personnel, scientifically approved and unexpired drugs and hospital equipment, safe and potable, and adequate sanitation | General Comment 14 |
Accountabilityb | [T]he right to health brings with it the crucial requirement of accessible, transparent and effective mechanisms of monitoring and accountability. Those with right-to-health responsibilities must be held to account in relation to the discharge of their duties, with a view to identifying successes and difficulties; so far as necessary, policy and other adjustments can then be made. Examples of accountability mechanisms are: 1.Judicial, e.g. judicial review of executive acts and omissions 2. Quasi-judicial, e.g. (…) human rights treaty-bodies 3. Administrative, e.g. human rights impact assessment 4. Political, e.g. parliamentary committees 5. Social, e.g. civil society movements The accountability mechanism should exist at the national, regional (if available) and international levels. Rightsholders are also entitled to effective remedies when duty-bearers have failed to discharge their right to health obligations. These remedies may take the form of restitution, rehabilitation, compensation, satisfaction or guarantees of non-repetition | General Comment 14 Limburg Principles Maastricht Guidelines |
Core obligationsc | In general comment No. 3, the Committee confirms that States parties have a core obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels of each of the rights enunciated in the Covenant, including essential primary health care. Read in conjunction with more contemporary instruments, such as the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Alma-Ata Declaration provides compelling guidance on the core obligations arising from article 12. Accordingly, in the Committee’s view, these core obligations include at least the following obligations: a) To ensure the right of access to health facilities, goods and services on a non-discriminatory basis, especially for vulnerable or marginalized groups; b) To ensure access to the minimum essential food which is nutritionally adequate and safe, to ensure freedom from hunger to everyone; c) To ensure access to basic shelter, housing and sanitation, and an adequate supply of safe and potable water; d) To provide essential drugs, as from time to time defined under the WHO Action Programme on Essential Drugs; e) To ensure equitable distribution of all health facilities, goods and services; f) To adopt and implement a national public health strategy and plan of action, on the basis of epidemiological evidence, addressing the health concerns of the whole population; the strategy and plan of action shall be devised, and periodically reviewed, on the basis of a participatory and transparent process; they shall include methods, such as right to health indicators and benchmarks, by which progress can be closely monitored; the process by which the strategy and plan of action are devised, as well as their content, shall give particular attention to all vulnerable or marginalized groups The Committee also confirms that the following are obligations of comparable priority: a) To ensure reproductive, maternal (prenatal as well as post-natal) and child health care; b) To provide immunization against the major infectious diseases occurring in the community; c) To take measures to prevent, treat and control epidemic and endemic diseases; d) To provide education and access to information concerning the main health problems in the community, including methods of preventing and controlling them; e) To provide appropriate training for health personnel, including education on health and human rights | General Comment 14, paras 43 and 44 General Comment 3 |
Legal recognitiond | Legal recognition of the right to health is the first step towards its implementation. Legal recognition means that states must ratify human rights treaties recognising the right to health, such as the ICESCR, and incorporate the right to health into their national constitution | Article 12 ICESCR |
Maximum available resources | States must devote the maximum available resources to the progressive realisation of economic, social and cultural rights. “Resources” are understood to include financial, natural, human, technological, and informational resources.7 States in a position to assist should provide resources to other states in need so that they can realise the right to health of their populations. In turn, states with scarce resources have an obligation to ask the international community for assistance | Article 2.1 ICESCR General Comment 3 General Comment 14 |
Non-discriminatione | The principle of non-discrimination seeks to guarantee that human rights are exercised without discrimination of any kind based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status such as disability, age, marital and family status, sexual orientation and gender identity, health status, place of residence, economic and social situation Non-discrimination and equality of men and women before the law are not subject to the principle of progressive realisation; they must be implemented immediately | Article 2.1 ICESCR Article 3 ICESCR Limburg Principles Maastricht Guidelines General Comment 14 General Comment 20 |
Participationf | Active and informed participation of individuals and communities in decision-making that has a bearing on their health | General Comment 14 Limburg Principles General Comment 20 |
Responsibility to respect, protect, fulfilg | States have duties to respect, protect and fulfil the right to the highest attainable standard of health. These duties are equally applicable to medical care and the underlying determinants of health. The obligation to respect requires States to refrain from interfering directly or indirectly with the enjoyment of the right to health. The obligation to protect requires States to take measures that prevent third parties from interfering with the right to health. Finally, the obligation to fulfil requires States to adopt appropriate legislative, administrative, budgetary, judicial, promotional and other measures towards the full realisation of the right to health | General Comment 14 |
Anchoring the indicators into existing frameworks
Delphi method
Criterion | Definition |
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Scientific robustness | Indicators are reliable (i.e., they provide stable results across various populations and circumstances) and valid (i.e., they measure what they are intended to measure) |
Usefulness | Indicators evaluate areas that need improvement and require prioritisation, or right-to-health principles, as opposed to what data are available |
Representativeness | Indicators are based on observed data as opposed to estimates from models that rely on assumptions |
Understandability | The measures are clear and understandable by policymakers |
Importance | Indicators reflect important elements of the right to health or a human rights-based approach to breast cancer |
Indicator | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Comment |
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Does the state’s Constitution protect the right to health? |
ROUND 1 | ROUND 2 | ||||||||||||||
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No consensus in round 1 | Your responses | Group responses | Group feedback | Your responses | Your feedback | ||||||||||
Indicator #7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1&2 | 3 | 4&5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
In the national cancer plan, there is a strategy to implement a multidisciplinary care for breast cancer | x | 36% | 0% | 64% | "Large country variations, difficult to standardise and apply consistently across countries." "Might depend on country capacity." |
Results (Table 5)
Health service delivery |
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Structural indicators
|
1. In the NCP or NCDP there is a strategy to implement population-based breast cancer screening |
2. In the NCP or NCDP there is a strategy to implement access to radiotherapy |
3. In the NCP or NCDP there is a strategy to implement palliative/supportive care |
4. In the NCP or NCDP there is a strategy to implement survivorship care |
5. In the NCP or NCDP there is a strategy to implement end-of-life care |
Process indicators
|
6. There is a referral system in place from primary care to oncology services |
7. There is a specified maximum waiting time between diagnostic suspicion in primary care and the first appointment with an oncologist |
8. There is a specified maximum waiting time between the confirmed diagnostic and the first appointment for treatment |
9. The national diagnosis guidelines involve pathological evaluation in line with ESMO or ASCO recommendations |
10. The number of radiotherapy units is at least as high as the optimal threshold set by the IAEA (one radiotherapy unit per 500,000 population) |
Disaggregated by geography |
11. There is a referral system in place from the breast unit to psychological care |
Disaggregated by geography |
12. There is a trained member of staff acting as patient navigator in the breast unit |
Disaggregated by geography |
Outcome indicators
|
13. Proportion of suspected breast cancer patients with a first consultant appointment within 2 weeks of primary care referral |
14. Proportion of women with advanced breast cancer (stage IV) at diagnosis |
Disaggregated by wealth quintile and ethnicity |
15. Proportion of breast cancer patients forgoing or postponing care because of limited availability |
Disaggregated by wealth quintile and ethnicity |
16. Proportion of breast cancer patients forgoing care because of affordability |
Disaggregated by wealth quintile and ethnicity |
17. Proportion of breast cancer patients who receive palliative care |
Disaggregated by wealth quintile and ethnicity |
18. Proportion of women terminally ill with breast cancer who receive end-of-life care |
Disaggregated by wealth quintile and ethnicity |
Health system financing
|
Structural indicators
|
19. The NCP or NCDP addresses costs of implementation of the breast cancer strategy |
20. Share of government spending and out-of-pocket payment out of the total spending on health per capita |
21. The state has a social health insurance system |
Process indicators
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22. The social health insurance system covers diagnostic services for breast cancer (i.e., biopsy, mammogram and ultrasound) |
23. The social health insurance system covers breast cancer treatment (i.e., hormone therapy and chemotherapy) |
24. The social health insurance system covers radiotherapy for breast cancer |
25. The social health insurance system covers palliative care for breast cancer |
Outcome indicators
|
26. Proportion of costs covered for breast cancer care by the social health insurance system |
Medicines
|
Structural indicators
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27. There is an official national medicines policy to provide access to essential medicines |
28. The NCP or NCDP mentions breast cancer medicines included in the WHO Essential Medicines List |
Process indicators
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29. Proportion of breast cancer medicines included in the WHO Essential Medicines List that are available in the country and covered by public funding |
Outcome indicators
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30. Proportion of hospitals with palliative medicines shortage |
Disaggregated by geography |
Health workforce
|
Structural indicators
|
31. The state has a national health workforce strategy |
Process indicators
|
None selected |
Outcome indicators
|
32. Prevalence of certified oncologists per 1,000,000 population |
Disaggregated by geography |
Health information systems
|
Structural indicators
|
33. The state law requires informed consent to treatment and other health interventions |
34. The NCP or NCDP protects the right to seek and receive health information |
35. The NCP or NCDP addresses communication of information throughout the pathway of care for breast cancer, from screening through to referral, diagnosis, treatment options and palliative care |
36. The NCP or NCDP addresses the needs of patients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds |
37. The NCP or NCDP addresses participation of patients in decisions that affect them |
Process indicators
|
38. The personnel in the breast unit are trained to communicate information on diagnosis and treatment options, including side effects and survival, repeatedly, verbally and in writing, in a comprehensive and easily understandable form to patients |
39. The personnel in the breast unit presents all options available to the patient beside a mastectomy, and explains in an easily understandable way psychological distress that may be associated with a mastectomy |
40. The personnel in the breast unit discusses breast reconstruction techniques individually taking into account anatomic, treatment- and patient-related factors and preferences |
41. The breast cancer unit uses trained interpreters when communicating with patients from culturally and linguistically diverse background |
42. The breast unit has a participatory process in place to include patients into decisions that affect them individually |
Outcome indicators
|
43. Proportion of breast cancer patients who feel they have received sufficient, comprehensive and easily understandable information, including on treatment side effects and survival, to be involved in decisions about their care |
Disaggregated by wealth quintile, ethnicity, and language |
44. Proportion of breast cancer patients who feel they have been involved in decisions about their care |
Governance and leadership
|
Structural indicators
|
45. The Constitution, Bill of Rights, or other statute recognises the right to health |
46. The NCP or NCDP addresses accountability of the state and health institutions |
47. The NCP or NCDP includes a protection against discrimination |
48. The NCP or NCDP includes an explicit commitment to universal access to cancer services and treatment |
49. The NCP or NCDP includes a set of targets and progress indicators specific to breast cancer |
Process indicators
|
None selected |
Outcome indicators
|
None selected |
Underlying determinants of breast cancer
|
Structural indicators
|
None selected |
Process indicators
|
None selected |
Outcome indicators
|
None selected |
Accountability and redress
|
Structural indicators
|
50. There is an accessible pre-judicial mechanism to lodge complaints alleging breach of obligations connected to the right to health |
Process indicators
|
51. The breast unit has a formal complaints mechanism for patients |
Outcome indicators
|
None selected |
Additional indicators suggested in round 1 and selected in round 2
|
52. Proportion of the population at risk participating in the screening programme |
53. Prevalence of certified nurses per 1,000,000 population |
54. The State has ratified key human rights treaties recognising the right to health |