Basic Human Rights and Principles include "The Right to Education"
THE INTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION (IPPF) WESTERN HEMISPHERE REGION BILL Of RIGHTS TO WHICH WE SUBSCRIBE...
RIGHT TO INFORMATION
All individuals in the community have a right to information on the benefits of family planning for themselves and their families. They also have a right to know where and how to obtain more information and services for planning their families. All family planning programs should be active in disseminating information about family planning. This should be done not only at service delivery sites, but also at the community level.
RIGHT TO ACCESS
All individuals in the community have a right to receive services from family planning programs, regardless of their social status, economic situation, religion, political belief, ethnic origin, marital status, geographical location or any other characteristics which may place individuals in certain groups. This right means a right of access through various health care providers as well as service delivery systems.
Family planning programs should take the necessary steps to ensure that services will reach all individuals who need them, even those for whom the normal health services are not easily accessible.
RIGHT TO CHOICE
Individuals and couples have the right to decide freely whether or not to practice family planning. When seeking contraceptive services clients should be given the freedom to choose which method of contraception to use. Family planning programs should assist people in the practice of informed free choice by providing unbiased information, education and counseling as well as an adequate range of contraceptive methods. Clients should be able to obtain the method they have decided to use provided there are no significant contraindication to their use of the method.
A client's concept of acceptability and appropriateness changes with circumstances. Therefore, the right of choice also involves clients' decisions concerning discontinuation of a method of contraception and method of contraception and method switching.
There is another aspect of choice that should be considered: as far as is practical, clients have a right to choose where to go for family planning services and the type of service provider with whom they feel most comfortable.
Choosing where to go may involve a choice of physical location or a choice of service delivery mode; e.g. community family planning or the choice of service delivery mode; e.g. community family planning or the health worker, pharmacy or over the counter service, hospital, health centre or family planning clinic. Governmental, non-governmental and private sector providers should welcome the establishment of alternative service outlets.
RIGHT TO SAFETY
Family planning clients have a right to safety in the practice of family planning. This right to safety implies the following:
Although it is well recognized that the benefits to health from family planning outweigh the risks, clients have a right to protection against any possible negative effect of a contraceptive method on their physical and mental health.
Since unwanted pregnancies may represent a risk to health, the right of the client to safety also includes the right to effective contraception.
When receiving family planning services clients also have a right to protection against other health risks, which are not related to a method of contraception. For example, protection against the possibility of acquiring an infection through the use of contaminated instruments.
Safety relates to the quality of service provision, including both the adequacy of the service delivery facility itself, and the technical competence of the service providers. Ensuring the client's right to safety includes assisting the client in making an appropriate choice of contraceptive, screening for contraindications, using the appropriate techniques for providing the method (if applicable), teaching the client about proper use of the method and ensuring proper follow up. The conditions in service delivery sites together with the materials and instruments should be adequate for the provision of safe services. Any complications or major side effects should receive appropriate treatment. If this treatment is not available at a particular service site the client should be referred to another facility.
RIGHT TO PRIVACY
When discussing his/her needs or concerns the client has a right to do this in an environment in which s/he feels confident. The client should be aware that her/his conversation with the counsellor or service provider will not be heard by other people.
When a client is undergoing a physical examination it should be carried out in an environment in which her/his right to bodily privacy is respected. The client's right to privacy also involves the following aspects related to quality of services:
When receiving counseling or undergoing a physical examination the client has the right to be informed about the role that each individual inside the room, besides those providing services, is playing; e.g. individuals undergoing training, supervisors, instructors, researchers, etc. (Where the presence of individuals undergoing training is necessary the prior permission of the client should be obtained.)
A client has a right to know in advance the type of physical examination that is going to be undertaken. The client also has a right to refuse any particular type of examination if s/he does not feel comfortable with it or to request this examination be done by another provider.
Any case-related discussions held in the presence of the clients (particularly in training facilities) should involve and acknowledge the client and not talk over the client. It is, after all, the client's sexual and reproductive organs and functions that are under discussion.
RIGHT TO CONFIDENTIALITY
The client should be assured that any information s/he provides or any details of the services received will not be communicated to third parties without her/his consent. The right to confidentiality is protected under the Hippocratic Oath. As such, family planning services should be performed in conformity with the legal requirements and in accordance with ethical values.
A breach of Confidentiality could cause the client to be shunned by the community or negatively affect the matrimonial status of the client. It may also lessen a target group's confidence and trust in the staff of a service delivery program. In accordance with the principle of confidentiality service providers should refrain from talking about clients by name or in the presence of other clients. Clients should not be discussed outside service sites. Client records should be kept closed and filed immediately after use. Similarly, access to client records should be controlled.
RIGHT TO DIGNITY
Family planning clients have a right to be treated with courtesy, consideration, attentiveness and with full respect for their dignity regardless of their level of education, social status or any other characteristics which would single them out or make them vulnerable to abuse. In recognition of this right of the client, service providers must be able to put aside their personal gender, marital, social and intellectual prejudices and attitudes while providing services.
RIGHT TO COMFORT
Clients have the right to feel comfortable when receiving services. This right of the client is intimately related to adequacy of service delivery facilities and quality of services, e.g. service delivery sites should have proper ventilation, lighting, seating and toilet facilities. The client should spend only a reasonable amount of time at the premises to receive the required services. The environment in which the services are provided should be in keeping with the cultural values, characteristics and demands of the community.
RIGHT TO CONTINUITY
Clients have a right to receive services and supply of contraceptives for as long as they need them. The services provided to a particular client should not be discontinued unless this is a decision made jointly between the provider and the client. In particular a client's access to other services should not depend on whether or not s/he continues contraceptive services. The client has a right to request transfer of her/his clinical record to another clinical facility, and in response to another clinical facility, and in response to that request the clinical record or a copy of it should be sent to that facility or given to the client. Referral and follow up are two other important aspects of a client's right to continuity of services.
RIGHT TO OPINION
Clients have the right to express their views on the service they receive. Clients' opinions on the quality of services, be they in the form of thanks or complaint, together with their suggestions for changes in the service provision, should be viewed positively in a program's ongoing effort to monitor, evaluate and improve its services. Any new program or service delivery facility should ideally involve clients at the planning stage. The aim is to satisfy would-be clients' need and preference in ways that are appropriate and acceptable to them.
ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
Every person is expected to be treated in a fair, courteous, considerate and respectful manner, free from discrimination and harassment.
Every person has a right to make his or her own reproductive health choices, including abstinence, pregnancy, abortion, and the prevention of disease and unwanted pregnancy.
SHCS provides services and information regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion. By contrast, we are mindful of the client's capacity and cognitive skills.
SHCS does not make the provision of services and products contingent on client's compliance with non-medical requirements or expectations.
Those volunteers belonging to a professional organization are expected to comply with their professional organization's code of ethics as well as those of Sexual Health Centre Saskatoon.