PHA-Exchange> PHM 2002: Issues Resubmission for feed back

[Aviva]

(I resubmit this second piece also for feedback. This piece is more a summary of the People's Charter for Health for use in press releases and to get more people to join PHM ). Use it!                 Claudio

THE PEOPLE'S HEALTH MOVEMENT (PHM) IN 2002: STILL AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE STRUGGLE FOR 'HEALTH FOR ALL NOW'!

1. Eighteen months after the historical People's Health Assembly in Savar, Bangladesh, December 2000, the PHM with affiliates in five continents, re-commits itself to its flagship document, the People's Charter for Health (PCH).

2. The analysis made in the PCH applies to today's world every bit as much as it did 18 months ago --only that the sense of urgency has been hightened!

3. Our vision remains one striving for peace, equity, and an ecologically-sustainable development. We see the health crisis we described for most countries in the world in the year 2000 to have, if anything, deepened.

4. We re-commit ourselves to the "Call for Action" points made in the PCH as they relate to actively influencing the many direct and indirect determinants of health.

In a nutshell, we still stand for:

5. Combating the negative impacts of Globalization as a worldwide economic and political ideology and process.

6. Significantly reforming the IFIs and the WTO to make them more responsive to poverty alleviation and the Health for All Now movement.

7. A forgiveness of the foreign debt of least developed countries and use of its equivalent for poverty reduction, health and education activities.

8. Greater checks and restraints of the freewheeling powers of transnational corporations, especially pharmaceutical houses (and mechanisms to ensure their compliance).

9. Greater and a more equitable household food security.

10. Some type of a Tobin tax that taxes runaway international financial transfers. 

11. Unconditionally supporting the emancipation of women and the respect of their full rights.

12. Putting health higher in the development agenda of governments.

13. The health (and other) rights of displaced people.

14. Halting the process of privatization of public health facilities and for greater controls of the already installed private health sector.

15. More equitable, just and empowered people's participation in health and development matters.

16. A greater focus on poverty alleviation in national and international development plans.

17. Greater and unconditional access of the poor to health services and treatment regardless of their ability to pay.

18. Strengthening public institutions, political parties and trade unions involved, as we are, in the struggle of the poor.

19. Opposing restricted and dogmatic fundamentalist views of he development process.

20. Greater vigilance and activism in matters of water and air pollution, the dumping of toxics, waste disposal, climate changes and CO2 emissions, soil erosion and other attacks on the environment.

21. Militant opposition to the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and the destruction of forests.

22. Protecting biodiversity and opposing biopiracy and the indiscriminate use of genetically modified seeds.

23. Holding violators of environmental crimes accountable.

24. Systematically applying environmental assessments of development projects and people-centered environmental audits.

25. Opposing war and the current USA-led, blind 'anti-terrorist' campaigns.

26. Categorically opposing the Israeli invasion of Palestinian towns (having, among other, a sizeable negative impact on the health of the Palestinian people).

27.The democratization of the UN bodies and especially of the Security Council.

28. Getting more actively involved in actions addressing the silent epidemic of violence against women.

29. More prompt responses and preventive/rehabilitative measures in cases of natural disasters.

30. Making a renewed call for a comprehensive, more democratic PHC that is given the resources needed --holding governments accountable in this task.

31. Vehemently opposing the commoditization and privatization of health care (and the sale of public facilities).

32. Independent national drug policies focused around essential, generic drugs.

33. The transformation of WHO, supporting and actively working with its new Civil Society Initiative (CSI) making sure it remains accountable to civil society.

34. Assuring WHO stays staunchly independent from corporate interests.

35. Sustaining and promoting the defense of effective patients' rights.

36. An expansion and incorporation into PHC of traditional medicine.

37. Changes in the training of health personnel to assure it covers the great issues of our time as depicted in our PCH.

38. Public health-oriented (and not for-profit) health research worldwide.

39. Strong people's organizations and a global movement working on health issues.

40. More proactive countering of the media that are at the service of the globalization process.

41. People's empowerment leading to their greater control of the health services they need and get.

42. Creating the bases for a better analysis and better concerted actions by its members through greater involvement of them in the PHM's website and list-server.

43. Fostering a global solidarity network that can support and react our fellow members when facing disasters, emergencies or acute repressive situations.

The specific actions proposed in the PCH under each of these headings are not to be seen as the content for a collection of fitting slogans or as a wish-list. Eventually, the PHM will have one or more 'Action circles' organized addressing each of these clusters of demands; these circles will interact through email and will network with other groups already working on each of these issues before releasing their conclusions to our list server and the PHM website.

Eighteen months after PHA2000, our challenge remains the same --though more urgent. It still calls for the same main actions and makes the same demands made in our People's Charter for Health as summarized here.

But for this challenge to materialize in concrete, concerted actions, more of each of you need to get involved. It is, therefore, not sufficient for this short document to rehash what needs to be done. Each of our members needs to re-commit her/himself: We need more of your time! Perhaps the moment has come to abandon some of the irrelevant work we all get involved in. We can no longer afford missing the forest by focusing on the trees...

We particularly call on delegates to and participants in this year's WHA to join our Movement --regardless of your official or non-official status. 

[To start with, you can visit, our website at www.phm2002.org (??), contact our Secretariat at gksavar at citechco.net and join the pha-exchange list-server by writing to its moderator at aviva at netnam.vn ].

Note: Come October, the PHM's Secretariat will be shifting from GK in Savar to the Community Health Cell (CHC) in Bangalore, India. The reigns of it will be passed from Qasem Chaudhury to Ravi and Thelma Narayan assisted by an existing worldwide Management Circle.

(If you have suggestions for changes in the text above send them to Ravi at sochara at vsnl.com with copies to Claudio at aviva at netnam.vn and make them in capital letters (!) so it will be easier to make such changes. If you have comments to specific points made, please email us and kindly refer to the respective paragraph or line number).


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