PHA-Exchange> PHM Geneva Report (final)

[Aviva]

From: "Community health cell" <sochara at vsnl.com>

> PEOPLE'S HEALTH MOVEMENT (PHM) IN GENEVA
> 
> A short report of the participation of PHM in the Fifty Fifth World
> Health Assembly,
>  at Geneva,   13-17th May 2002
> 
> [The Peoples Health Movement (PHM) was invited by the World Health
> Organization to participate in the first Technical Briefing session at
> the World Health Assembly, organised by the WHO-Civil Society Initiative
> and to present the Peoples Health Charter.  Over 35 members of PHM from
> different countries attended the World Health Assembly, this year from
> 13-17th May 2002 and participated in various meetings, lobbying
> initiatives and in the technical briefing.  The initiative was organised
> by the WHO/WHA Circle of the PHM and this is a short report of the
> salient features of the PHM related events in Geneva during that week.
> 
> 1. World Health Assembly (WHA) : An introduction
> 
> ? The Fifty Fifth World Health Assembly organised by WHO, Geneva, took
> place this year from 13th to 18th May 2002.  The assembly is the most
> important annual meeting of the WHO where delegations from member states
> from all over the world gather to discuss a wide range of world health
> concerns and WHO's organisational challenges through formal procedures
> and informal dialogue.
> 
> ? A wide range of topics relevant to world health were covered in the
> agenda during the assembly, including the Report of the Commission on
> Macroeconomic and Health (CMH); Risks to Health (round table);
> Development Goals of the Millennium; Global Fund for
> HIV-AIDS/TB/Malaria; Sustainable Development; HIV-AIDS; Eradication of
> Polio; Quality of Care and Patient Safety; Ageing and Health; Mental
> Health; Diet, Physical Activity and Health; Dengue Prevention and
> Control; Deliberate use of Biological and Chemical agents to cause harm;
> Destruction of Variola stocks; Pan-African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis
> eradication campaign; Role of contractual arrangements in improving
> health systems performance; Health conditions of Palestinians;  Arabs
> under Occupation; Collaboration with UN system and with other
> intergovernmental organizations; International decade of the worlds
> indigenous people, and a few other topics.
> 
> 2. WHO-WHA lobby circle of PHM
> 
> ? The WHO-WHA circle convened by Dr. Ravi Narayan of CHC, consisted
> initially of Zafarullah Chowdhry, David Sanders, Pam Zinkin, K. Bala,
> Claudio Schuftan and grew as the process evolved. It encouraged the
> participation of PHM members from all over the world (especially those
> who were able to find their own support or who were anyway attending the
> WHA as members of NGOs in official status with WHO) to show solidarity
> with PHM and participate in an intense and proactive lobby strategy.
> Six letters were circulated in the process of mobilization on - 7th
> December, 25th February, 25th March, 9th April, 18th April and 29th
> April.  Through active lobbying, WHO was encouraged to formally support
> two PHM resource persons and the NGO forum  also supported (2 persons).
> Other members  raised their own funds through various sources.
> 
> 3. PHM Participants at WHA
> 
> ? The 35 PHM activists and included Qasem, Zafarullah, Laila, Nouman and
> Shireen from Bangladesh; Ani from Brazil; Pat from Congo; Christiane and
> Andreas from Germany; Sunil from Italy; Prem, Unni, Thelma, Ravi, Nupur
> from India; Satya from Malaysia; Maria from Nicaragua; Ellen from
> Netherlands; David from South Africa; Bala and Joel from Sri Lanka;
> Mwajuma from Tanzania; Pam, Mike, Dorothy from UK; Sarah from USA;
> Halfdan, Eric, Manoj, Uday, Garance, Fawzia, Inez from
> Geneva-Switzerland; and four members from the International Federation
> of Medical Students Associations.
> 4. Registration Challenge
> 
> ? Since WHO-CSI is still to review the mode of linkage and participation
> of NGOs, movements and campaign groups, the 'PHM' which turned out to be
> the largest delegation this year (!) to WHA attended it as members of
> IOCU, World Vision  CMC-Action for Health and others.  We thank these
> NGOs for their support and solidarity [Next year we should attempt to
> increase the participation of PHM activists and supporters by entering
> as members of country delegations; or getting our specific NGOs to link
> to WHO in official relations and or to persuade WHO to recognise PHM as
> an official movement and the largest health network of 'civil society'
> in the world].
> 5. PHM Community at Mandat
> 
> ? A large number of the PHM participants stayed at Mandat International
> - an NGO reception centre for NGO delegates to meetings in Geneva, which
> is run by a young team of volunteers and residents.  With PHM posters,
> photographs and publications all over the Mandat lobby, and most rooms
> taken by PHM participants, we converted Mandat International into a
> temporary PHM community.  The accommodation and food was simple and
> computer facilities were available. In addition, the beauty of the
> residence (inside a small forest and by the side of grassy lands) and
> the enthusiastic hospitality of Ms. Bernadita Gonzales and her team made
> it a memorable experience and our thanks go out to them.
> 
> ? On 13th May 2002, the PHM participants attended the special briefing
> session organised by WHO-CSI for NGO participants.  Dr. David Nabarro
> highlighted the main points of concern and initiatives of WHO and its
> corporate strategy; Dr. Andrew Cassels reported on the salient features
> and recommendations of the report of the Commission on Macro-economics
> and Health; Dr. Pekka Pushka spoke on Diet, Physical Activity and Health
> and the 'risks to health' that would be discussed at the round tables
> sessions, during WHA, this year; Dr. Alex Kalache spoke on the evolving
> policy of Active Ageing and some mention was also made about the Global
> Health Fund and the WHO-CSI initiative.  There was a short discussion
> after each presentation.  The PHM delegation was the largest group in
> the briefing session and among other concerns raised issues (i) the need
> for caution in putting not for profit NGOs and civil society in the same
> group as 'for profit - private sector' in the public-private
> initiatives; and (ii) the need to look at the relevance of WHO's
> concerns and activities including themes for WHO day, in the context of
> the socio-economic-cultural-political-epidemiological situation of the
> poor and marginalised of the world - the social majority (iii) the
> continuing importance of the primary health care approach and framework
> through which technical strategies concerning ageing etc., could be
> channelised. After the briefing, the PHM delegation had its own first
> briefing and strategy planning session at the same venue (this was the
> first of many such meetings throughout the 5 days).
> 
> 6. WHA Inaugural Session
> 
> ? In the afternoon of 13th, the PHM delegation attended the formal
> inauguration of the World Health Assembly with the presentation of the
> Report of the Director General, WHO for 2001 and a guest speech by Dr.
> Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF.  We also experienced some
> of the 'politics' of intergovernmental UN agencies by witnessing the
> efforts by Taiwan for recognition as a special member state and the
> spirited and well planned opposition by the head of the Chinese
> delegation supported by the Pakistan delegate.
> 
> ? The DG spoke about the four strategic directions of WHO under her
> leadership (a) to address the burden of ill health among very poor
> populations (b) to track and assess risks to health and to help
> societies to take action to reduce them (c) to improve the performance
> of health systems (d) to encourage national policies which promote
> health.  This report needs to be analysed carefully from the perspective
> of the Peoples Health Charter but two significant shifts in WHO thinking
> were obvious (a) There was no reference to the 'Health for All' goals or
> comprehensive approaches to health and health care development and only
> very marginal mention of the role of people, communities, civic society,
> campaigns and networks to partnership with WHO's efforts to make health
> for all a possibility.  In fact, the so called WHO - civic society
> initiative was conspicuous by absence of any reference to it (b) Except
> perhaps in the Tobacco Free initiative, most of the other initiatives
> supported by International Trusts, funds, etc., were focussed on
> bio-medical determinants of health and showed little concern or
> involvement in tackling the broader determinants of health except for
> passing mentions of poverty and health.
> 
> 
> 
> 7. NGO Forum for Health
> 
> ? Every year, the NGO Forum for Health, based in Geneva, organises a
> special session during the WHA. This year, the theme was 'Partnership in
> Action for Health' and the session was on 14th May from 9-12 noon.  PHM
> had been requested to be part of the panel and Ravi (India) and Sr. Ani
> (Brazil) presented lessons and case studies from the Peoples Health
> Assembly and Movement.  Other panelists included Ms. Eva Wallstam
> (WHO-CSI) and her WHO colleagues Dr. Maria Neira (CDS/CPE) and Dr. Hans
> Hogerzail (EDM/PAR) who spoke on WHO perspectives on Partnerships for
> Health. Dr. Bernard Pecoul of Medicins Sans Frontiers spoke about the
> Action Oriented Approach to Partnership - based on MSF experiences. Dr.
> Judith Richter presented a very thought provoking and critical analysis
> of partnerships between UN agencies and the commercial sector. Dr. Eva
> Ombaka spoke on the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network for Essential
> Drugs. Ms. Nance Upham presented some provocative thoughts on the need
> for new partnerships in the fight against HIV-AIDS.  Dr. Nils Billo of
> the International Union Against TB and Lung Diseases spoke about
> partnerships between government and NGOs in the DOTS programme.  Even
> though the case studies and experiences were very interesting and
> diverse, the presence of too large a number of panelists prevented
> adequate time for discussion.  The meeting was followed by a press
> conference and Ravi and Sr. Ani attended it as PHM representatives and
> panellists. The press conference highlighted the concerns of NGOs on WHO
> partnership trends with private sector; and the need for greater
> involvement on Civil Society in WHO policy evolution and organisational
> response.
> 8. PHM Media Strategy
> 
> ? One of the highlights of the PHM presence at WHA was the two member,
> full time media team, which included Unni from India and Sathya from
> Malaysia (supported by Nupur also from India), who were responsible for
> lobbying with the press and highlighting PHM concerns and PHM responses
> to emerging initiatives of WHO through formal/ informal press briefings,
> interviews and press conferences.  A backgrounder on PHM and five press
> releases by them were distributed to the press and many of the delegates
> as well. (a) Peoples Health Movement - a backgrounder on 13th May, with
> quotes from David Werner, Dr. Ekbal and Halfdan Mahler  (b) Health Care
> - WHO cares? Poverty, War and Debt - greatest threat to world health
> says PHM, - 13th May 2002 (c) WHO Industry partnership - Who influences
> Who?, 14th May 2002 (d) Global campaign to be launched Revive the vision
> of Alma Ata!, On 15th May 2002 (e) the Peoples Health Movement marches
> on - from Dhaka to Geneva to Porto Alegre, 17th May 2002 (f) Peoples
> Health Movement condemns ongoing attacks on civilians in Palestine and
> the violence in Gujarat- on 17th May 2002.
> 
> 
> ? The advocacy effort provoked the DG and her senior colleagues to find
> the time and interest to attend the formal presentation of the Peoples
> Health Charter and reports from different parts of the world on post PHA
> initiatives, which in the formal invitation and announcement was to be
> chaired by ED - External relations and WHO-CSI only. It also resulted in
> media reports all over the world recognising, quoting and mentioning
> that PHM and civil society were concerned with some of the directions
> and initiatives of the WHO - moving away from the pro-poor Health For
> All goals.  The presence of a pro Health For All goals  peoples movement
> was universally acknowledged in many press releases, the Lancet article,
> etc.
> 
> 
> 9. Mini PHA at WCC
> 
> ? All the PHM participants attending WHA took time off from WHA on 16th
> May to participate in a full day sharing, reflecting, 'battery charging'
> session on the Peoples Health Movement and post PHA initiatives at World
> Council of Churches on 16th May.  The day started with a symbolic
> gathering of participants in the centre of Geneva with Peoples Health
> charters and posters and publications by the side of the special 'broken
> chair' monument dedicated to those people especially children who have
> lost limbs in post-war undetected mine explosions.  This was replete
> with slogan shouting and hand waving that was featured on Star TV in
> India on 20th May 2002 and also resulted in a much needed PHM collective
> public presence.  The meeting at WCC which followed was facilitated by a
> four member team of Maria, Pam, Mwajuma and Thelma, animated by
> 'circulation stimulating' breathers and refreshers by Sr. Ani, our
> popular educator from Latin America.
> 
> 
> ? The full day meeting commenced with a self introduction round;
> followed by an exercise to list out through a simple timeline ones
> ongoing involvement in PHM and ones Vision for the PHM and tasks for the
> future.   This was followed by sharing by each participant which
> included initiatives and processes from all parts of the world.  In the
> afternoon, there was screening of a video 'Hey Ram' on the Gujarat
> violence which lead to great concern and a press statement on 17th
> condemning the attacks in Palestine and Gujarat.  This was followed by a
> brain storming session on plans for the next year, especially as the
> 25th Anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration of September 1978 was
> nearing. Finally, there was a concluding session on future challenges
> and organisational issues chaired by Qasem and Ravi.  The Indian,
> Bangladesh and Latin American participants contributed to a poster
> exhibition for the event and all the participants also laid our
> publications and other materials for reference as well as takeaways.
> 
> 
> 
> 10. Some NGO inspired sessions
> 
> The WHA is often interspersed with sessions organised by NGO initiative
> on issues and concerns relevant to Peoples Health.  Two sessions were of
> particular interest to PHM participants :
> 
> 
> a) Poverty Reduction Strategies and Health: Action & Roles  on 16th May
> at 5.30 p.m.
> 
> There was a briefing and a discussion by WHO and Save the Children, UK,
> in collaboration with Medact and Wemos The speakers included Ms. Dr. N.
> Traore (Minister of Health, Mali); Mr. Mike Rowson (Director Medact,
> UK); Mr. Samuel Ochieng (Chief executive Consumers Information Network,
> Kenya); Ms. Reina Buijs (Senior advisor nutrition and health, Ministry
> of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands; Mr. Andrew Cassels (Director,
> Strategy Unit at the Director General's Office, WHO).
> 
> 
> b) Consumer improves Quality of Care
> 
> Two short seminars on the above topic in connection with the WHO
> resolution entitled "Quality of Care", "Patient Safety" were organised
> on May 14th and May 15th by KILEN - Consumer Institute for Medicines and
> Health, Sweden, which was part of the IOCU (Consumers International)
> delegation to the 55th WHA.  Speakers included : Dr. Mary Couper;
> Professor Ralph Edwards; Dr. Natalia Cebotarenco; Jan Albinson and Lena
> Westin
> 
> 11. The Technical briefing on Peoples Health Charter
> 
> ? This was the much awaited highlight of the PHM presence and
> participation in the WHA.  The briefing on the Charter was one of the
> six technical briefings at the 55th WHA.  The other five were :  (a)
> Diabetes  - our failure to deal with a modern epidemic; (b) Guinea worm
> eradication / African trypanosomiasis intensified control; (c)
> Traditional medicine : access, effectiveness, safety and quality; (d)
> Recent developments in access to care of people living with HIV/AIDS;
> (e) Twenty-five years of essential medicines : achievements and
> challenges.  The briefing was announced in the programme, daily journals
> and through notices and handouts.  PHM participants also actively
> lobbied with WHA delegates and WHO leadership and staff to be present
> and to understand the PHM concerns. (See  Appendix 1 for the formal
> announcement).
>  ? It had been decided earlier that Zafarullah and Ravi would present
> the PHA background and the Charter and Maria, Mwajuma and Ellen  would
> share about post PHM concerns and initiatives from Latin America, Africa
> and Europe.  At the suggestion of WHO-CSI and after considering the
> Venezuelan Health Minister and then the WHO-DG as potential
> chairpersons, some of us from PHM invited Dr. Manuel Dayrit, the
> Secretary of Health of Philippines to chair the session.  A briefing
> session was held with Manuel on 14th May in which many PHM participants
> and the WHO-CSI team were actively involved.  He patiently listened to
> all our concerns about WHO initiatives and its loss of focus, which he
> understood well from his initial experiences and participation in ACHAN
> (Asian Community Health Action Network) and other civil society
> initiatives.  Among other things, the need for an urgent Joint
> Commission on Poverty and Health between WHO and PHM was felt necessary
> to complete the unfinished agenda of the CMH (Commission on
> Macroeconomic & Health) which had totally ignored efforts of
> macro-economic and trade policies on  the lives and health of people.
> 
> ? As a result of effective lobbying, including the media strategy and
> the choice of a relevant chairperson, the WHO leadership changed its
> mind on 16th May and we were glad that the DG - Dr. Brundtland and Dr.
> David Nabarro, both decided to get away from their busy schedule and
> appointments and attend the briefing.  Dr. Brundtland welcomed the group
> and presented WHO's key concerns and her interest in Civil Society
> partnerships and attended the whole briefing session including the five
> presentations.  Dr. David Nabarro stayed back to answer questions and
> comments after the briefing.  The chairperson managed the active
> discussion and comments, that followed the presentations, very well.
> 
> ? Zafarullah started the briefing by narrating his early morning dream
> in which "WHO along with other agencies had become totally privatised
> with mergers and many staff retrenched.  He ended with the hope that as
> in the Bangladesh folk tradition early morning dreams may not come
> true".
> 
> ? Ravi presented the background of the PHA mobilization and the key
> elements and concerns of the charter using OHPs that has already been
> widely circulated.  With the assistance of David Sander's OHPs - he
> showed evidence about the dismal performance even in the area of
> immunization in the last few years based on WHO and other data. He
> listed out 5 key messages to WHO that emerged both from the charter and
> the PHM and highlighted 14 specific action points (see Appendix 2).
> These had been discussed in a meeting of some PHM participants on 17th
> morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ? Maria then presented, what was happening in Latin America since PHA;
> followed by Mwajuma who described the concerns and initiatives in the
> African region; followed by Ellen who shared the concerns and
> initiatives from the European region.  The chairperson then allowed some
> questions, comments and discussions, which was lively in spite of a time
> constraint .  There were two rather supportive comments from a
> Venezuelan delegate and another from a delegate from francophone
> Africa.  Someone also asked WHO about what they were planning for The
> Silver Jubilee Alma Ata Declaration in 2003, next WHA.  Dr. Nabarro
> answered on behalf of WHO though he was somewhat guarded in his
> reactions about the Alma Ata Jubilee celebrations; the issue of broader
> determinants, the need for a poverty commission, etc.
> 
> ? However, the scheduling of another briefing simultaneously and that
> too on the theme.  'Twenty five years of Essential Medicine :
> Achievements, Challenges', which was a topic of great interest to the
> delegates and to NGOs including the PHM, meant that many had to choose
> between the two sessions.  Also Friday afternoon was late in the
> Assembly schedule.  In spite of these constraints, there was a larger
> group of participants at the briefing session perhaps partly because of
> the presence of the DG.
> 
> 12. Final Strategy and Follow up Meeting
> 
> ? After the Technical briefing session, the PHM participants met for the
> last time on 17th late afternoon for an informal final meeting chaired
> by Qasem to identify specific action strategies and volunteers to
> convene or follow up on these strategies and initiatives.  There was
> discussion and suggestions on a Communications / Media Circle (to be
> convened by Andy, UK;) some ideas to celebrate the 25th anniversary of
> Alma Ata with reflections by PHM groups including a joint Health
> convention at the next World Social Forum at Porto Alegre in February
> 2003; follow up on special issues of Contact magazine and Development
> Dialogue on Post PHA initiatives; and matters of strategy and
> clarification of procedures for representing PHM at meetings; the need
> for further mobilization and regional meetings to identify the members
> of the evolving Peoples Health Movement Council; need to support the PHM
> Secretariat etc.  Further details will be circulated from the
> Secretariat.
> 
> 13. PHM Dialogue with UNAIDS
> 
> ? At the special request of Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of
> UNAIDS, a dialogue with a small group of PHM participants was held on
> 17th May at 10 a.m. in the office of UNAIDS in the Palais Des Nations.
> A team of seven resource persons from PHM - Maria, Sr. Ani, David
> (Sanders), Thelma, Mwajuma, Dorothy and Ravi met Dr. Peter Piot and some
> of his colleagues to understand the concerns and initiatives of UNAIDS
> and also share the concerns and suggestions of PHM participants on the
> HIV/AIDS problem in their own countries and regions.  It was decided
> that since UNAIDS and PHM had many similar concerns  and perceptions of
> the problem, such a dialogue should continue.  It was decided that a
> 'Poverty and AIDS' circle would be convened as an issue circle that
> could continue this dialogue with UNAIDS.  Dorothy volunteered to
> facilitate this circle and the continuing dialogue with UNAIDS.  Others
> interested in the AIDS problem could join the circle.  Dorothy , Thelma,
> Maria and others met with some of the UNAIDS team after the technical
> briefing as well and further details will be circulated.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 14. PHM dialogue with GFHR
> 
> ? The Global Forum for Health Research (Louis Currat, Executive
> Secretary and Andres de Francisco, Senior public Health Specialist)
> contacted some of the PHM participants to explore how PHM could
> participate in the next Forum 6 at Arusha, Tanzania in November 2002.
> They appreciated greatly Ravi's input on behalf of PHM (presentation of
> research challenges from Charter) at Forum 5 at Geneva in October 2001.
> This had been included in the 10/90 Report on Health Research 2001-2002
> (see Appendix 3).
> 
> 
> The GFHR team and a few PHM researchers met for a short dialogue and it
> was decided that PHM, as a start would participate in the final plenary;
> in the session on TB and on Access to Drugs and also coordinate a
> parallel workshop on Research by CSUs.  David from South Africa agreed
> to be the contact point of PHM for GFHR and Forum 6 and follow up on
> these and further ideas of collaboration.  These were just a few
> possibilities.  As more researchers in the PHM Circle were identified
> the participation possibilities in Forum 6 sessions could be enlarged.
> 
> 
> 
> 15. New Contacts and Opportunities for presenting PH Charter
> 
> ? During the week in Geneva, apart from UNAIDS and GFHR mentioned
> earlier many other organisations met up with some of the PHM
> participants and discussed possibilities of dialogue, working together
> or informed about meetings at which the Charter  could be presented.
> All of them were requested to keep in touch with the PHM Secretariat and
> ways and means to follow up on the requests would be evolved by the
> secretariat and its support group.  These included :
> 
> 1. World Civil Society Forum, Geneva, 2002 - 14-19th July
> (http://www/worldcivilsociety.org    Email : forum at mandint.org)
> 
> 2. World  Organisation of Family Doctors Ltd. (contact person : Dr. Ilse
> Hellemann, Email : mobene at computerhaus.at)
> 
> 3. NGO Committee on the Status of Women, Geneva (Email :
> ngocsw at iprolink.ch)
> 
> 4. Asia Civil society Forum, 2002 - UN/NGO Partnership for Democratic
> Governance, Bangkok, 24-29 November 2002 (Email : congo.gva at congo.org)
> (Website : www.congo.org)
> 
> 5. The AIDS Network - an international network to formulate an
> alternative public health approach to AIDS
> (aidsmanifesto at club-internetfr)
> 
> 6. NGO Adhoc Advisory Group on Health Promotion (contact person : Joanna
> Koch.  Email : bhg at ibo.org  Website : www.ibo.org)
> 
> 
> 
> 16. In Conclusion
> 
> ? In the final analysis the first, proactive, PHM participation and
> presence in WHA went better than our initial expectations.  It was a
> good opportunity for PHM participants to understand some of the dynamics
> of discussion, policy evolution and dialogue in WHO as an
> intergovernmental, UN organisation and the need for more effective
> lobbying with our own government delegates and WHO leadership.  The
> enthusiasm of participants was very infectious and the media team very
> provocative and effective.  However, we also understood the complexities
> of the situation both within and without WHO and the need for a more
> planned, better analysed and researched collective strategy to counter
> the 'market economy' trends and the overdose of selective bio-medically
> oriented responses in WHO policy planning and initiatives.
> 
> 
> ? Much more needs to be done and in a much more rigorous and strategic
> way.
> 
> ? But the week in Geneva was a good beginning and a good 'battery
> charger' for all those who made it.  A word of thanks to Eric of NGO
> forum, Manoj of WCC, Eva and Margareta of WHO-CSI, Fawzia of UNAIDS, who
> in addition to so many others played key supportive role in arranging
> the local logistics for the events.
> 
> Appendix  1:- Technical Briefing Friday, 17th May 2002,  1300-1400 Hrs.
> Room XVI
> 
> "CIVIL SOCIETY PERSPECTIVES ON HEALTH : THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER FOR HEALTH
> (there will be interpretation in Arabic, Chinese, English, French
> Russian and Spanish)
> 
> During the last 20 years, there has been a dramatic growth of civil
> society organizations and a significant increase in their involvement in
> health, both at national and at global level.  WHO recognizes that it is
> only by working with a broad range of partners including civil society
> organizations that a lasting difference can be made to improve health.
> The purpose of the briefing is to share the experience of the People's
> Health Assembly, an example of civil society involvement in health in
> recent years, and to offer a forum where issues related to people's
> involvement in health can be debated.  Representatives from the People's
> Health Movement will present the processes surrounding the Assembly that
> took place in December 2000 in Bangladesh which brought together
> participants from over 92 countries.  One important outcome of the
> Assembly was the endorsement of the People's Health Charter.  The main
> concerns and themes outlined in the Charter will be presented at the
> briefing and a panel of speakers representing different regions of the
> world will briefly highlight developments in the People's Health
> Movement since the Assembly".
> Source : WHA Journal
> 
> Appendix 2. Call to World Health Organization
> 
> Be a strong advocate for poverty eradication, eg.,
> 
> - Greater equity (in WTO/WB/IMF)
> - Debt cancellation (in WB/IMF)
> - Fairer trade (in WTO/TRIPS)
> - Poverty and Health Commission (WHO & PHM)
> 
> Promote comprehensive approaches, eg.,
> 
> - Avoid vertical wholly technical initiatives (eg., GAVI)
> - Ensure greater intersectorality (like Thailand-Basic Minimum Needs
> Programme)
> - Involve community and people's organizations in 'evidence and action'
> 
> Strengthen public sector for health, since
> 
> - No evidence that privatisation leads to equity
> - Prevent agenda setting by corporate interests (be like Tobacco Free
> Initiate not Roll Back Malaria Programme)
> 
> Involve people's organizations in WHO work, eg.,
> 
> - At national levels (WRs)
> - At regional levels
> - At WHO level (beyond Civil Society Initiative and World Health
> Assembly)
> 
> Promote more participatory, relevant transparent public health policy
> processes and initiatives eg.,
> 
> - From 'DOTS' to 'Community Oriented TB Services (COTS)'
> - From micronutrients to 'food'
>  Source : Technical Briefing by PHM at WHA, May 2002
> 
> 
> 
> Appendix 3.:-  "But there is a more devastating, more direct and
> self-reinforcing effect of poor health on poverty, through the vicious
> circle of  poverty, i.e., malnutrition, disease, unemployment or
> underemployment, low income, poor housing, low level of education, low
> productivity, no access to drinking water, no access to health care
> services, larger number of children, unwanted pregnancies, substance
> abuse.  In addition, poor people are more likely to suffer from the
> degradation of the environment and from discrimination.  Once trapped in
> this vicious circle, the chain of causality is very difficult to break,
> as pointed out by numerous reports, including the People's Charter for
> Health*....."
> 
> *Ravi Narayan, Community Health Adviser, Community Health Cell, PHM,
> India.  Paper presented at Forum 5, Global Forum for Health Research,
> October 2001
> 
> Source: The 10/90 Report on Health Research 2001-2002, Global Forum for
> Health Research, p4
> 
> 
> 
> 5th June 2002      Ravi Narayan
> Bangalore    Convenor, WHO-WHA Circle of Peoples Health Movement
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>