Human Rights in Medical Education: Medical Curricula as Inequity Perpetrators

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Mr. Addonai Teixeira, a Brazilian medical student and active member of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA). He is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

As some of the readers – as part of the international health community – might know, Brazil has a public universal health care (UHC) system. However, even though our country is part of a minority when compared to many other nations that don’t provide free and complete healthcare services to their population, the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) still faces very real and palpable challenges in addressing inequities experienced by vulnerable groups like LGBTQIA+ individuals, people experiencing homelessness, migrants, and Black and Indigenous populations.

However, these issues – though very real and undeniable – are not currently prioritized in medical school curricula. This creates a terrible double impact: it results in an actual, direct lack of human-rights based care from physicians, while also producing medical professionals who graduate without developing the critical perspective needed to challenge the sickening, oppressive realities their patients face every single day.

And this devastating reality exists everywhere, not just in Brazil. Now, if this problem is already catastrophic in a country with UHC, can you imagine what happens in countries that don’t have universality as a core pillar of their health systems? If you, the reader, come from such a nation and have witnessed what this means for vulnerable populations, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Despite the enormous, crushing impact of lacking UHC, medical education remains a fundamental pillar that could transform students into human rights-educated leaders and true changemakers in healthcare.

Understanding how to combine evidence-based care with true social accountability isn’t easy – but it’s absolutely necessary, and work is being done. Yet despite important initiatives from organizations like IFMSA, deep systemic change is still urgently needed to address the blindspots in the current education systems worldwide. Today, we have overwhelming evidence showing the vital need for human rights education in health professions curricula worldwide. We must never forget that health is a fundamental human right – and as such, it must be guaranteed for everyone, no matter their social difference markers. Until medical education undergoes this transformation, we will keep failing to produce the kind of medical professionals who can truly be changemakers and advocates for health equity for those who need it most.

About the author

Addonai Teixeira is a Brazilian medical student and active member of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA), currently serving on the Standing Committee on Human Rights and Peace (SCORP) International Team. They have coordinated human rights and peace initiatives nationally and locally with IFMSA Brazil, while leading international campaigns on health equity, vulnerable populations, and climate justice. Dedicated to global health, environmental sustainability, and humanitarian causes, Addonai has worked on projects addressing health disparities, climate change awareness, migrants rights  and the impact of conflict on healthcare systems.