8. The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health Article 12 (1) The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. (2) The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for: a. The provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child; b. The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene; c. The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases; d. The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness. 8.1 Understanding the Right to Health 8.1.1 Concept and Content The right to health is closely connected to the notion of human dignity. It is also “related to and dependent upon the realization of other human rights, as contained in the International Bill of Rights, including the rights to food, housing, work, education, human dignity, life, non-discrimination, equality, the prohibition against torture, privacy, access to information, and the freedoms of association, assembly and movement.”320 According to the CESCR, the right to health in Article 12 is not confined to the right to health care, but instead embraces “a wide range of socio-economic factors that promote conditions in which people can lead a healthy life, and extends to the underlying determinants of health, such as food and nutrition, housing, access to safe and potable water and adequate sanitation, safe and healthy working conditions, and a healthy environment.”321 It also includes “the participation of the population in all health-related decision-making at the community, national and international levels.”322 The right to health should not be misconstrued as the right to be healthy; rather, it is the right to a number of freedoms and entitlements.323 These freedoms include “the right to control one’s health and body, including sexual and reproductive freedom, and the right to be free from interference, such as the right to be free from torture, non-consensual medical treatment and experimentation”, while the entitlements include “the right to a system of health protection which provides equality of opportunity for people to enjoy the highest 77