By listening to and honoring the voices of the people, we can develop care processes and models that respond to individuals’ needs, actualize rights to universal access and effective care, and strive toward the greater goal of ‘identifying and responding to the needs of a community to enable human flourishing’ (International Labor Organization [ILO], 2009).
~Ted Karpf, et al., Light Still Shines in the Darkness: Decent Care for All
Abstract
Decent Care is the World Health Organization and The Ford Foundation’s joint effort to articulate a healthcare paradigm that makes a patient’s voice equal to the voice of the healthcare provider. In this article, the six tenants of Decent Care are outlined with particular emphasis on subsidiarity. Liberation theology’s preferential option for the poor maxim is presented and compared with other major world religions to demonstrate the cross-cultural focus of “decency.” The power of this paradigm is in its emphasis and proclamation of human flourishing in a healthcare setting, generally speaking, and more specifically, human flourishing in the presence of affliction from chronic disease or dying cross-culturally.
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Notes
In this text, Western and non-Western—or, Occidental and Oriental—are not mentioned in the context of monolithic binaries. For more on Orientalizing ideas prominent in “the West,” see Said 1978.
The model of Decent Care is very reminiscent of Roberto Goizueta’s (2008) Hispanic Liberation Theology in Caminemos con Jesus, which is most likely a testimony to the fact that Decent Care is based on a set of principles that are found in all cultures.
The following description and citations on Observe, Judge, Act are taken from Farmer 2005:138–144.
For more on societal obligations in the Pentateuch from the perspective of covenant economics, see Richard A. Horsley, Jesus and the Powers: Conflict, Covenant, And The Hope Of The Poor (Fortress Press 2010).
“For Muslims, human life and living is part of a journey towards God. Neither our real beginning nor our real end lies in this world” (Esack 2008, pg. 63).
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Niforatos, J.D. The Decent Care Movement: Subsidiarity, Pragmatic Solidarity, and Cross-Cultural Resonance. J Relig Health 55, 206–216 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-015-0051-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-015-0051-4