PHA-Exchange> WTO - UNCTAD - G8 - WHO: Where should PHM be?

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1- UNCTAD was created by the Non-aligned to combat GATT, the predecessor to
the WTO ( the WTO is seeking to impose global gorvernance is way beyond GATT
and is in fact much worse than GATT was).
PHM should not call to reform an institution- the WTO- that is outside the
UN system and the worse example of corporate governance. PHM should rather
place
UNCTAD in the driving seat as the only legitimate body to rule
democratically in questions relative to trade.

2- PHM should not call for Global Governance; that can only be
non-democratic, but rather for real participation of concerned populations
in development issues. We should reassert the notion of Public Goods to
which people are entitled.
Nance


3.-  G8:
The PHM is a people-oriented, global initiative for health. As its name
suggests, it is  about people's right to health and their right to decide
how to achieve it. It is about self determination, autonomy and dignity - in
short - democracy at local, national and international levels.

The G8 therefore represents the antithesis of the PHM vision. The G8 are
profoundly antidemocratic and, driven by corporate capitalism, they are
concerned with profit rather than with people.

The G8 have appointed themselves de facto leaders of the world and its
people. They have no competence nor legitimacy to do so. They take decisions
which affect the lives of billions of people. They are often not even
accountable to their own people, let alone to the people of other nations.

At the heart of the PHM vision are equity, ecological sustainable
development, and peace.

PHM deplores the militarization of economies which make war (and subsequent
reconstruction) a highly desirable and profitable activity for a small
minority. War is always a major public health catastrophe.

It is not only through war that  G8 countries kill. They also kill  every
day, with economic policies imposed on the world's poorest people. These are
implemented through unelected and unaccountable international financial and
trade institutions, controlled by the governments of the powerful nations,
who use this control not in the interests of their people but in the
interests of their transnational corporations.

For the PHM, Health for All means that powerful interests have to be
challenged.

Inequality, poverty, exploitation, violence and injustice are the root cause
of the ill health and deaths of poor and marginalized people.  Neoliberal
economic policies of the past 20 years not only fail to address the
determinants/auses of death and disease but they create them ! Never have
income and wealth been distributed so unequally, both within and between
countries.

The 'experts' may still demand more evidence about poverty and health. But
people know what makes them ill.  The leaders of the G8 may continue to
pursue these policies but the people have said "enough" and they will not
stop saying so. 30,000 children die every day from avoidable illness. The
Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Food has stated that to die of
hunger in today's world of plenty is a genocide. Children die for want of
clean water, food, sanitation, a home and a safe place.  These could be
provided tomorrow for a fraction of the cost of the deadly weaponry used to
silence their cries of protest.

The PHM demands that the so called 'war on terrorism' address the daily
terror of poverty

The PHM, along with millions of other protesters insists that "another world
is possible".  Contrary to what our leaders tell us, it is not complicated.
Simple measures to solve the problems could be implemented in a matter of
months. Specifically, the following macroeconomic measures must be
implemented: immediate debt cancellation; a tripling of aid to reach the
0.7% of GNP UN target; fair trade rules and practices; abolition of tax
havens and control and taxing of speculation. We also demand
self-determination of peoples in matters of national sovereignty; and
genuine democratisation of international decision-making bodies, including
the IMF, the World Bank, and  WHO.

PHM urges the world's leaders to listen to and respect the sovereign
people's demands for peace and social justice. These are the foundations of
democracy.
David

4.- WHO
I  feel that WHO has strayed far away from its Constitution which calls it
to work for promoting health of all the people of the world. I plead for WHO
to renew its commitment to equity by attending to the needs of the poorest
who are unserved and underserved and promoting the principles  of Primary
Health Care worldwide, including the use of essential drugs,
appropriate technology and traditional systems of medicine.

The use of flawed data by WHO has called into question the cost calculations
made by the Sachs Commission and all the bases of DALYs.

I see there are `Two WHOs'. One, the WHO of high technical excellence; the
other a WHO of high moral stature. By and large, WHO's record has been
dismal in both the
fields. The success of getting approval of the Framework Convention on
Tobacco-free Initiative in the teeth of bitter opposition by powerful
vested interests was held up as a rare achievement of the Moral WHO.

 WHO's record in promoting partnership with transnational corporations,
particularly those in the pharmaceutical sector, offers instances of
compromise of its mandate in return for financial support.

Over and above, there is the rise of legally independent global alliances,
such as GAVI, GAIN and the Global Fund, which seek to severely undermine the
notion and possibilities of democratic international policy making.
Debabar Banerji