PHA-Exchange> In preparation of PHA II - part 2

[Claudio]

The People's Health Assembly

The Global People's Health Assembly brought together 1450 people from 92 countries, and resulted in an unusual five-day event in which grassroots people shared their concerns about the unfulfilled 'Health for All' challenge.  The Assembly's programme included a variety of interactive dialogue opportunities for all health professionals and activists who gathered for this significant event. These fora included:

a     a rally for Health for All - Now!; 

a     meetings in which the testimonies on the health situation from many parts of the world and the struggles of people were shared and commented upon by multidisciplinary resource groups; (People's Health Movement 2002)

a     parallel workshops to discuss a range of health and health-related challenges; 

a     cultural programmes to symbolize the multi-cultural and multiethnic diversity of the people of the world; 

a     exhibitions and video/film shows; and

a     an abundance of dialogue, in small and big groups, using formal and informal opportunities.

 

The People's Health Assembly was preceded by a long series of pre-assembly events all over the world. The most exceptional of these was the mobilization in India. For nearly nine months preceding the Assembly, there were grassroots, local and regional initiatives of people's health enquiries and audits; sensitization including health songs and popular theater; sub-districts and district level seminars; policy dialogues and translations of national consensus documents on health into regional languages, as well as campaigns to challenge medical professionals and the health system to become more Health-for-All-oriented. Finally, over 2000 delegates traveled to Kolkata (Calcutta), mostly riding on five converging people's health trains; here, they  brought their ideas and felt needs first elaborated in 17state and 250 district conventions. In Kolkata, after two days of conferences, parallel workshops, exhibitions, two public rallies for health and a myriad of cultural programmes, the Assembly endorsed the Indian People's Health Charter. About 300 delegates from this Assembly then traveled to Bangladesh, mostly by bus, to attend the Global Assembly. Similar preparatory initiatives, though less intense, took place in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Philippines, Japan and other parts of the world, including Latin America, Europe, Africa and Australia. 
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