When Misfortune Becomes Injustice

Alicia Ely Yamin currently teaches law and public health at Harvard University. She has over thirty years of experience in human rights practice, living and working with advocacy organizations across the globe.Sakiko Fukuda-Parr is Professor of International Affairs at The New School and Chair of the UN Committee on Development Policy.

"In an increasingly unequal, fragmented, and unaccountable global order in which intellectual property rights trump health rights, this extraordinary book is a powerful call – by a scholar-activist dedicated to converting 'misfortune to be endured into injustice to be remedied' – to pursue human rights transformatively, to advance connection, dignity, equality, and social justice."—Jackie Dugard, Columbia University "This book makes you believe in the power of invoking human rights to advance health justice, especially if you're doubtful, despondent, or simply new to the topic. It is filled with stories that ignite a fire in you to do something, and insights to think through what you might do."—Seye Abimbola, University of Sydney "Alicia Yamin is able to combine, in a way that very few authors can, a sensitive and empathetic account of the tragic consequences of the widespread denial of the right to health with a deeply informed critique of global health policies. This book offers not only deep insights into the struggles to achieve health and social equality, but explains in highly readable and accessible terms what needs to be done. A wonderful read and an inspired guide."—Philip Alston, Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University and former UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights (2014-2020) "Yamin's book is a story of hope and the resilience that highlights how individuals, communities, and societies can confront power asymmetries and shift them to realise their health and human rights. The book provides a compelling account for students of health and human rights and for advocates on how human rights can be applied to transform the narrative from 'misfortune to be endured' to one of 'injustice to be remedied'."—Rajat Khosla, The Lancet "Yamin's book is a 'must read' for those emerged in the struggle for a healthy society, and for students of any stage of learning who seek to understand the history of and the potential of the human right to health."—Louise C. Ivers, ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America "It's quite a moment to pick up Alicia Ely Yamin's excellent book When Misfortune Becomes Injustice: Evolving Human Rights Struggles for Health and Social Equality. The recently released second edition is an informed, engaging, and deeply insightful stocktaking of limited but real advancements in the right to health, understood in the context of skyrocketing inequality and a prevailing global economic order that has rendered the fulfillment of that right all but impossible."—Rebecca Riddell, Health and Human Rights Journal Praise for the first edition "Yamin draws on years of practical field experience to speak with unique authority among human rights scholars about the global and national dynamics that systematically produce poverty and health inequalities across the world."—Paul E. Farmer, Harvard University, and Co-Founder and Chief Strategist of Partners In Health

• Introduction: Allegorizing the WorldChapter 1: Indignation and InjusticeChapter 2: The Significances of SufferingChapter 3: Diverging Parables of ProgressChapter 4: Dystopian ModernizationChapter 5: Global Crises, Pandemics, and NormsChapter 6: Inequality, Democracy, and Health RightsChapter 7: Power, Politics, and KnowledgeConclusions: The Struggle for the World We Want