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31 Jan 2023 by lbigmr

Social Rights: Long Covid and the Right to Health

In the fifth and last policy brief of the series “Social Rights in the Pandemic”, the authors form the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights approach the topic of Long Covid against the background of the right to health.

The Covid-19 crisis has highlighted the importance of the right to health. In their policy brief “Social rights in the pandemic: Long Covid and the right to health”, published in December 2022, Karin Lukas and Vincent Perle explore the role of the right to health with regard to the long-term health consequences of a Covid-19 infection.

According to WHO estimates, about 10 to 20 percent of all people infected with covid-19 are affected by the long-term health consequences of covid-19 infection, which are now summarised under the term Long Covid. In addition to general risk factors such as older age or obesity, women and people with a lower socioeconomic status are disproportionately affected by Long Covid.

On the legal basis of the (revised) European Social Charter (RESC), the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR), in cooperation with the Austrian Chamber of Labour, examines the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on social human rights in Europe.

With regard to Long Covid and the right to health, the authors state the following points, among others:

  • Adequate medical care for Long Covid patients must be ensured.
  • In view of the large number of different symptoms, a multidisciplinary approach and an appropriate medical infrastructure are needed.
  • Covid-19 should be recognised as an occupational disease comprehensively, unbureaucratically and irrespective of the occupation, and it should be made much easier to prove infection.
  • Sufficient financial resources must be made available for research into the disease and the development of a causal therapy.
  • The data basis on Long Covid must be significantly improved.

Please find attached the German version of the policy brief on “Social Rights in the Pandemic: Long Covid and the Right to Health”.