A/HRC/17/25 inadequate protection of the right to health are symptoms and constituent parts of inadequate human development and poverty, and instrumental in that the enjoyment of the right to health is instrumental in securing other human rights, such as the right to education and work, which are essential to the achievement of human development. 13. In other words, the new conception of development recognizes that the realization of human rights, including the right to health, is a central aspect of development itself. This connection has been elaborated in many forums, including the United Nations: the centrality of human rights in poverty reduction has been well recognized, and elaborated through a conceptual framework and guidelines on human rights and poverty reduction.17 However, as previously discussed, health is also implicated in many other conceptions of development besides that involving poverty reduction, and it is this centrality of health to all aspects of development which makes it essential that a right to health approach be used in all development programmes and policies which seek to address health. III. The right to health and development 14. The right to health is of particular importance to development. It is an inclusive right that encompasses the underlying determinants of health such as access to food and water and sanitation and poverty and discrimination. As such, the right to health is implicated in nearly all development activities, and should be a central component of development programming. 15. Of the eight Millennium Development Goals subsequently developed to reflect the objectives agreed upon in the Millennium Declaration in 2000, Goals 4, 5 and 6 deal with health directly and others deals with underlying determinants of health. At least 8 of the 16 MDG targets, and 17 of the 48 related indicators, are health-related. As the MDGs have become a major focus of health-related development work, it was an important step for these goals to place health at the very centre of the development enterprise. Moreover, at the 2010 high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly, States committed to promoting global public health for all to achieve the MDGs and to ensure “respect for human rights, promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as essential means of addressing the health of women and girls, and to address the stigmatization of people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS”.18 The normative framework that is now well developed and understood for the right to health is well placed to inform the efforts towards achieving the MDGs.19 16. The following sections address in turn how human rights, and the right to health framework in particular, can inform development policies and programmes; the right to development and how it relates to the right to health; practical examples of use of the right to health framework in development efforts; and, finally, the benefits and challenges of integrating human rights into development programming. A. The right to health framework 17. Comprehensive incorporation of human rights into development work necessitates changes in the practical approach taken to development work itself. The advancement of human rights through development work – as opposed to simply avoiding rights violations 17 18 19 6 Idem. A/RES/65/1, para. 73 (i) A/59/422.