Introduction
The right to the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental human right and a key indicator for sustainable development. Good health is a prerequisite for a dignified life and social and economic participation. Poor health, on the other hand, can negatively affect other human rights, e.g. pose a threat to a child’s right to education and limit women’s and men’s economic opportunities. Goal 3 calls for a healthy life for all at all ages.
Central demands include universal health coverage for all, including access to basic health care as well as affordable medicines and vaccines.
Good health is closely linked to various aspects called for in other goals, such as food security (>> Goal 2), clean water and sanitation (>> Goal 6) or functioning ecosystems (>>Goal 14, >> Goal 15). To achieve good health, structural and systemic inequalities have to be overcome (>> Goal 10) in order to ensure universal health care access and equity. Underlying factors for discrimination, such as gender (>> Goal 5), race, caste, disability have to be surmounted in order to achieve not only economic but also social equal- ity.
There are numerous ways in which tourism can influence health. Health and safety are key factors for many tourists when deciding where to spend their holidays. While there is an abundance of literature analysing health risks for travellers based on hygiene, water quality, epidemiology or the availability and quality of health services in the host country, there are only few analyses of the effects of tourism on the host population’s health. Generally, tourism can influence their health either directly, e.g. through bad working condi- tions or infections from tourists, or indirectly, e.g. through environmental health hazards caused by tourism, such as contaminated drinking water.