Kruk J. Protection of the right to health within the Council of Europe.

Thesis is devoted to analysis of the legal mechanisms to protect the right to health within the Council of Europe, the international legal obligations of Ukraine as the state-member of the Council of Europe, as well as the implementation of the provisions of the law of the Council of Europe in Ukrainian legislation aiming to improve the effectiveness of the right to health at the national level. The author comes to the conclusion that the Ukrainian legislation contradicts with the Council of Europe's law regarding the protection of the right to health, therefore author made the propositions on the changes for the improvement of Ukrainian legislation.Based on the analysis of the provisions of international legal treaties, national constitutions and scientific doctrine the author has formulated his own definitions of "health" and "right to health" as well as legal content of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.Based on the study of the history of formation and development of the right to health author has set following stages: first (ancient times), second (Middle Ages - XIX centuries), third (XIX c. - foundation of the United Nations); fourth (foundation of the United Nations - to the present).The author analyzes the treaty (international treaties and acts of soft law - the recommendations of the institutions of Council of Europe) and institutional (statutory bodies, institutions, structures established under the Council of Europe conventions and partial agreements) mechanisms to protect the right to health within the Council Europe.Special attention is devoted to the influence of transparency during the execution of international obligations of Ukraine within the framework of membership in the Council of Europe to protect the right to health. This paper analyzes the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on the right to health, including against Ukraine, which allowed to identify the main difficulties of the right to health and to systematize the existing problems.The authors studied the problem of protection of the right to health in Ukrainian prisons and indicated certain peculiarities of application of the law of the Council of Europe to improve the level of such protection. Considering the impact of the European Court of Human Rights on the health sector, the author emphasizes the importance of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights against Ukraine, generalizes the problems and challenges regarding protection of the right to health in Ukraine. In the meantime the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights outpaces the legislative process in Ukraine by its development due to its flexibility and therefore represents the indicator of the omissions of Ukrainian legislation, where the legal reality is not taking into consideration that is the subject of the permanent modifications. The health care system in Ukraine produces rather poor outcomes contributing to low life expectancy and high rates of sickness. One of the causes of such situation is improper structure of health sector and inadequate and insufficient financing. The health care sector in Ukraine remains unreformed, keeping the substantial overcapacities inherited from the Soviet Union. The paper emphasizes the necessity to reform the health sector in accordance with the legal requirements of the Council of Europe.