OSI’s Law and Health Initiative (LAHI) supports collaborations between health and legal practitioners with a view to advancing mutually shared goals of human rights, human dignity, and open society. LAHI has identified the following five priority focus areas for 2006–2010.
Integrating Health and Legal Services
The Law and Health Initiative supports the integration of legal and paralegal
advocacy into community-based health services, both to increase access to justice
and ensure comprehensive care for vulnerable groups. The aim is to ensure access
to timely, effective, and affordable legal assistance for underserved populations
such as women and girls, people who use drugs, sex workers, LGBT persons, and
people living with HIV and other terminal illnesses.
Human Rights in Patient Care
The Law and Health Initiative supports the establishment of human rights guidelines and the training
of health workers in the delivery of medical care to vulnerable groups. The
initiative also supports legal action to remedy abuses in the health
care system, such as denial of care, medical negligence, forced treatment of
drug users and people with mental and intellectual disabilities, and discrimination
against women and girls, Roma and other minorities, people living with HIV/AIDS,
and other marginalized groups.
HIV/AIDS and Human Rights
The Law and Health Initiative provides core institutional support and technical assistance to organizations
with a dedicated mandate to use legal strategies seeking to address the link
between the global HIV epidemic and human rights abuses against women, injecting
drug users, sex workers, prisoners, gay and bisexual men, and other vulnerable
groups. LAHI also supports advocacy and networking to increase the profile
of legal and human rights issues on regional and global HIV/AIDS agendas.
Law and Health Capacity Development
In an effort to cultivate a new generation of professionals committed to health and human rights, the Law and Health Initiative supports university courses in law and health, clinical legal education, continuing education courses for legal and health professionals, and training in health and human rights for staff of the Soros foundations network and their grantees and partners.
Legal Strategies in Health Monitoring
The Law and Health Initiative supports the use of legal strategies to advance transparency,
accountability, and civil society participation in health policy, programs,
and spending. This includes advocacy for access to health-related public records,
advocacy for transparent and effective budget appropriations legislation, and
monitoring of health policies, programs, and budgets according to human rights
standards and criteria.
