This note is to inform you that a resolution on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (E/CN.4/2002/L.47), sponsored by the Brazilian Delegation, was adopted by consensus on 22 April 2002 at the Fifty-Eighth Session of the Commission on Human Rights.

The Resolution urges States to take steps, individually and through international assistance and co-operation, to achieve progressively the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; calls upon the international community to assist, without discrimination, the developing countries to this end; and appoints, for a period of three years, a Special Rapporteur on the right to health.

Some responsibilities of the Special Rapporteur include: gathering information from governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations; developing a regular dialogue, discussing possible areas of co-operation with the World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS; reporting on the status, throughout the world, of the realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

The co-sponsors of the resolution are as follows: Algeria, Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Senegal, South Africa, Slovenia, Swaziland, Sweden, Thailand, Uruguay, and Venezuela.