The Human Right to Health in Africa: Great Expectations, but Poor Results

After a brief outline of the African Human Rights System, the paper analyses the human right to health enshrined in Article 16 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). In particular, it deals with the effective implementation of the human right to health in the African national orders. The Guidelines on the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Africa, the practice of the African Commission and, mainly, the practice of the States Parties to the ACHPR help to lead the analysis in greater depth. As for the State practice, particular attention is paid to the implementation of the human right to health during the Ebola Crisis in the Western African States. The conclusion about the effective domestic implementation of the human right to health follows. Introductorily, the paper also focuses on the legal perspective adopted in order to develop the research.