'Rights-based approaches' to health policies and programs: articulations, ambiguities, and assessment.

Rights-based approaches (RBAs) to health encompass an exciting range of ways that the United Nations, governments, and non-governmental organizations incorporate human rights into public health efforts. By reviewing the academic literature and discrepant articulations of human rights and RBAs by key institutions, the authors identify common rights principles relevant to health and discuss a framework to improve implementation and guide assessment of the contributions of RBAs to health.