The Right to Health

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The right to health is a fundamental human right. Under Israeli law, every Israeli resident is entitled to health services in accordance with the principles of justice, equality, and mutual support. However, the Israeli health system is far from being able to adhere to these principles. On the contrary, we are witnessing increasing inequality in access to health services. Insufficient funding of the public health system, coupled with privatization of health services, have led to a deterioration in the scale and quality of services provided by the health system. The result is two health systems that differ substantially in quality – one for the wealthy and one for the poor.

ACRI works to ensure accessible and equal health services to all citizens and residents of Israel: rich and poor, Arab and Jewish, old and young, living in the center or in the periphery. This includes the rights of the mentally ill with regards to health care, and the rights of refugees and asylum seekers with regards to medication administered without proper information. Through legal work including intervening directly with the Ministry of Health, and focused publications, ACRI has brought the issue of the growing inequalities in the health care system into the public sphere.