| Summary: | Racial discrimination has been a social ill facing the international human rights community since its inception. More recently economic, social and cultural rights such as the right to health have gained greater consideration warranting further attention to the specificities of their understanding including the right to health. This study examines the intersection of these two topics, racial discrimination and the right to health. The study beings with an historical examination of the two concepts under international human rights law. Based upon these examinations the author proposes a novel theoretical model for the interpretation of State obligations under Article 5(e)iv of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). This model, called the Synergistic Approach, makes use of the existing understandings racial discrimination and the right to health from sources of both hard and soft law to provide further insight into these issues when and where they intersect, as in the text of ICERD Article 5(e)iv. The purpose of such an approach is not only to expand comprehension of the intersection of racial discrimination and the right to health under international human rights law, but also that as in any synergy, the whole of the analysis may be greater than the sum of its parts. In order to test the utility of the Synergistic Approach two case studies are undertaken. Next, the methods for the selection of cases and analysis are presented. The Synergistic Approach is then applied in two cases, the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). Interactions with international human rights mechanisms, national level action and health indicators are examined for both States. Finally, recommendations for action for international bodies, States in general and the specific States examined in the analysis are offered.
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