Now widely accepted as a component of the international human rights framework, the concept of access to medicines nonetheless continues to generate controversial questions as to its scope and application. Through critical analysis of relevant documentary materials, this article seeks to explore the conjunction between human rights and the list of essential medicines compiled biennially by the World Health Organization in the particular context of the recent expansion of this list to embrace a number of very costly medical interventions. Such extension is intended to stimulate access in the long run, but the expense of such medicines may limit accessibility in the short term, as governments struggling to ensure the sustainability of health systems choose to allocate finite resources elsewhere. This article therefore examines the compatibility of limitations to access on grounds of unaffordability, with international human rights obligations. It focuses especially upon Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights but also considers other human rights which may be engaged.

中文翻译：

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必不可少但昂贵？世界卫生组织，获得药物和人权

现在作为国际人权框架的一个组成部分被广泛接受，获得药物的概念仍然继续产生关于其范围和应用的有争议的问题。通过对相关文献资料的批判性分析，本文力求探索人权与世界卫生组织每两年一次编制的基本药物清单之间的联系，特别是在该清单最近扩大到包括一些非常昂贵的医疗的特殊背景下。干预。从长远来看，这种扩展旨在刺激可及性，但此类药物的费用可能会在短期内限制可及性，因为政府努力确保卫生系统的可持续性选择将有限的资源分配到其他地方。因此，本文研究了以负担不起为由限制访问与国际人权义务的兼容性。它特别关注《经济、社会、文化权利国际公约》第 12 条，但也考虑了可能涉及的其他人权。