Goa, April 7 -- Today we celebrate World Health Day at a time when the right to health of millions is increasingly coming under threat. Around the world, diseases and disasters loom large as causes of death and disability. Conflicts around the world are devastating lives, causing death, pain, hunger and psychological distress. The burning of fossil fuels is simultaneously driving the climate crisis and taking away our right to breathe clean air, with indoor and outdoor air pollution claiming a life every five seconds.

In this day and age, around 140 countries recognize health as a human right in their constitution. Yet countries are not passing and putting into practice laws to ensure their populations are entitled to access health servi...