TABLE OF CONTENTS -- LIST OF BOXES -- ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS -- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY -- INTRODUCTION -- Neglected diseases and neglected populations -- Human rights norms and standards -- Health and human rights -- Right to the highest attainable standard of health -- Human rights obligations on states -- Human rights and private sector responsibility -- THE GENERAL FEATURES OF A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO HEALTH -- Linkages to human rights -- Equality and non-discrimination, and their relationship to equity -- Participation -- Monitoring and accountability -- Conclusion: the empowering role of human rights -- DISCRIMINATION AND STIGMA -- Discrimination enhances vulnerability to neglected diseases -- Discrimination on the grounds of health status or disability -- Stigma and neglected diseases -- Right to privacy -- HEALTH SYSTEMS: THE RIGHT TO HEALTHCARE AND THE UNDERLYING DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH -- Underlying determinants of the right to health -- Right to health care -- Conclusion -- ESSENTIAL DRUGS -- Access to essential drugs in the context of health care: the rights to healthand life -- Intellectual property rights -- Research and development and human rights -- CONCLUSION -- REFERENCES -- ANNEX.