Overview
This lesson focuses on the right to health during the pandemic, with attention to access to health care. The lesson begins with students recounting measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections. Students then work in small groups and analyze the responses of different countries to the pandemic, including those from the governmental and non-governmental sectors. The students will reflect on unequal access to health care, especially for vulnerable groups.
Note that this lesson can be broken into two lessons.
Grade Level
8th-12th Grades
Essential questions the lesson will address:
● What does the right to health mean in terms of government responsibilities to ensure access to health care and public safety measures during a health crisis?
● What are the conditions within and across societies that support/impede the right to health?
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
● Identify safe practices they can undertake to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections.
● Describe different health-related practices that have been implemented by governments in different countries.
● Analyze which actors in different countries have been most active in promoting health safety measures during the pandemic.
● Recognize that there is unequal access to health care, especially for certain vulnerable groups in society.
Common Core State Standards
● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1
unMASKing Curriculum Glossary
● Duty-Bearer and Rights-Holders: from a human rights perspective, individuals are rights-holders that can make legitimate claims, and States and other actors are duty-bearers that are responsible and can be held accountable for their acts or omissions. A focus on rights and obligations helps to identify who is entitled to make claims and who has a duty to take action, empowering those who have legitimate claims to rights (Social Protection & Human Rights).
● Non-governmental organization (NGOs): a private sector, voluntary (usually non-profit) organization that participates in cooperation projects and education, training or other humanitarian, progressive or watchdog activities (dictionary.cambridge.org). An NGO is one form of a civil society organization.
● Civil society organizations (CSOs): CSOs are defined as organized civil society and can come in many forms, some informal such as youth clubs and some as formal entities such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organizations, and faith-based organizations (weforum.org).
● Equitable: dealing fairly and equally with all persons concerned (Merriam-Webster).
Formative Assessment Strategies
The teacher can make note of:
● The whole class discussion on safe practices during the pandemic.
● Small group presentations of group work.
● Individual student participation in group work and in whole class discussions.
● Students’ homework, in which learners journal about lessons from the pandemic about the right to health.
Materials for Instructor
● Access to Internet and screen for showing the video at the beginning of the lesson
● Pandemic Curriculum Glossary Board (Physical or Virtual)
● Whiteboard/Blackboard and chalk/marker
Materials for Students
● (optional) Handout: Safe Practices in the School During the Pandemic (to be developed by the teacher for their school)
● (optional) 1 laptop for each student group
● Handout: Country Cases of Health Care Responses to COVID-19
● Handout: Questions for Group Activity
● UnMASKing journals
LESSON PLAN
I. Video with discussion on safe practices (10 min.)
The lesson begins by showing the two-minute CBS News video “Hotels implement enhanced cleaning, safety measures to reopen during pandemic”, 5/27/2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjmmtcThUos
[Note: alternatively, you might show images of people physically distancing and using masks to warm-up the class.]
Ask the students to share with the person next to them (‘pair-share’) for two minutes what measures they and their families have taken during the pandemic to protect themselves and others.
Ask the students to share their responses and keep a running list on the whiteboard/blackboard. The result should be a set of safe practices.
Tell the students that safe practices are related to the right to health: your safe practices affect the right to health of others, and their practices also affect your right to health.
Ask who has the responsibility of ensuring the right to health. If the answer is not volunteered by the students, note that one of the primary “duty bearers” for the right to health are people working for the government. These include our elected officials, public health officials and other people paid by the government who are responsible for the well-being of others, as well as themselves. This includes school principals and teachers.
Remind students of the safe practices required by the school, referencing the list compiled in the first part of the lesson. (Note: you might consider providing students with a handout of required safe practices for the school.)
II. Case studies on country responses to the pandemic (40 min.)
Step One (5 minutes)
Explain that governments all over the world have undertaken different measures to protect the health of its citizens. No two countries’ measures are exactly alike!
The actions that governments have taken reflect many things. Sometimes it is their understanding of the science of how COVID-19 spreads, the seriousness of the infection rate, the kind of health care system in place in the country and leaders’ willingness to enforce security measures for people.
In some countries, national and local civil society organizations have also played a role. Civil society organizations are non-governmental organizations (NGOs), associations and clubs organized around a shared interest or identity. Examples of civil society organizations include youth groups, service organizations, unions and religious organizations.
In this activity, students will explore and compare the health care measures undertaken in Brazil, China, the Netherlands, South Africa and Taiwan as of the summer of 2020. (Note: there may be more current information available for these cases but the information available at the time the lessons were prepared helps to illustrate the different kinds of responses to the pandemic.)
Step Two (20 minutes)
Break the students into small groups of no more than four students. Each group will get a handout for one country (from Handout: Country Cases of Health Care Responses to COVID-19) along with the questions to address (Handout: Questions for Group Activity).
Explain that in their small groups, students will review their case example. Some of the case study handouts will include links to videos or other articles that students can review, as time and technology allows.
The students should answer the guiding questions, based on the information they have, with a scribe in the group taking notes. (They may not have sufficient information to answer all of the questions, which is fine.) Remind the students of the possible restrictions that may be placed on people to guarantee public safety, referring to the list made at the beginning of class. (The questions below are in the Handout: Questions for Group Activity.)
● According to the information you have, overall how effective do you think the efforts have been in containing the coronavirus? What are the strengths? The weaknesses?
● Do all people have access to health care and is it publicly funded? Is there a private health care system? Which groups are least likely to receive access to quality health care, and why is this so?
● What directives have the president or prime minister made to ensure public health during the pandemic?
● What directives have health care professionals made to ensure public health during the pandemic?
● What kind of leadership has emerged from civil society?
● If citizens have organized themselves around COVID-19 health issues, what has been their message?
● How would you assess the degree of coordination between government agencies and non-governmental organizations and persons in promoting public health?
Step 3 (10 minutes)
The students share their results and the reasons for their choices. (1-2 minutes per group, depending upon class size).
You can complete a matrix on the whiteboard/blackboard or flip chart paper for the student answers. Since more than one small group will be reviewing each case, the class can discuss any differences across the ratings and the basis for this.
As the students share their responses, ask probing questions like:
Do you see any relationship between government leadership and the measures undertaken for safety? (Note: weaker leadership means fewer measures).
In cases where the government was less involved, did we see examples of other kinds of leaders stepping up to help ensure public safety?
Who are the most vulnerable people in countries in terms of their exposure to COVID-19 and their access to health care?
III. Closing discussion (5 min.)
Conclude the lesson with an open discussion about the ‘big takeaways’ of the group work
● Which governments do you think have done the best in guaranteeing the right to health, and how?
● What roles have civil society organizations played in guaranteeing the right to health?
● What actions can ordinary people take to promote the right to health during the pandemic?
IV. Homework
Students can journal or write a short essay on the question: What lessons can we learn from the pandemic about the right to health?