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Forman and colleagues offer a compelling case for educating the health workforce on human rights law. Our Commission stressed the enhancement of legal capacities on the right to health, and we strongly support any actions to make human rights a core competency of health professionals—not only in formal education, but also in continued training. However, powerful structural barriers militate against the very idea of advancing the right to health. To change the political dynamics around human rights, we propose high-level guidance to states that encourages human rights training throughout the workforce. A transformative step would be if the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, and WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, acted jointly to issue guidance to UN and WHO member states.

Advancing the human rights and health needs of people living in fragile and conflict-affected …