An Assessment of Human Rights-Based Approaches to Health Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Among Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Locally Employed Staff

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Izraelle Mckinnon, Emory University; Aun Lor, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dabney Evans, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2019-06-01
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2019 McKinnon, Lor, and Evans.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6586982/
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Health and Human Rights
• ISSN: 1079-0969
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 33
• End Page: 44
• Keywords: Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; CARE; Science & Technology
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Health Sciences, Public Health

Abstract

Despite the increasing use of human rights-based approaches to health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not routinely train its staff in the use of such approaches as a part of public health practice. We conducted a training needs assessment among CDC locally employed staff working outside of the United States through eight key informant interviews and an online survey from June to December 2015. Key informants revealed an awareness that rights violations negatively affect access to health services and supported implementation of formal training among CDC staff. Most (82%) survey respondents felt that the CDC should do more to address health and human rights issues in its programs, policies and research. However, 72% of respondents did not feel they had adequate knowledge to address human rights in their work. In particular, 86% of participants had no knowledge of the Siracusa Principles (criteria for human rights restrictions) and only 2% of participants had received any training on international human rights treaties related to the duties of public health professionals. Our findings inform and support the need to design a training on human rights-based approaches to health, focused on the knowledge and skill needs of CDC locally employed staff.