The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is guaranteed under international human rights law and applies to everyone, including refugees, asylum‑seekers, stateless persons, and internally displaced persons (IDPs). This right requires States to ensure non‑discriminatory access to health facilities, goods, and services; to take immediate steps towards full realization; and to guarantee minimum essential levels of care. Health encompasses not only medical services but also the “underlying determinants of health,” such as safe water, adequate nutrition, housing, environmental safety, and access to health information. Its realization depends on the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of health services. 

Forced displacement weakens the social and environmental conditions that protect health and exposes individuals to new physical and psychological risks. Displaced and stateless populations face barriers such as financial, linguistic, cultural, and administrative obstacles, as well as overburdened health systems. Although the Refugee and Statelessness Conventions do not explicitly articulate the right to health, they require States to grant refugees and stateless persons lawfully staying in the territory the same treatment as nationals regarding public relief and assistance, generally understood to include health care. The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement similarly require access to essential medical services, with particular attention to women, persons with disabilities, survivors of violence, and those with psychosocial needs. 

The health category in RiMAP therefore examines domestic legal frameworks governing access to primary, secondary, and tertiary health care; sexual and reproductive health; mental health services; disability‑inclusive health care; adequate nutrition; and effective remedies for violations of the right to health.