PHA-Exchange> 25 In preparation of PHA 2

[Claudio]

Neoliberal ideology in the World Health Organization: 

Effects on global public health policy and practice 

  

(Part 4 of 4)

The People's Health Movement
 

In an effort to bring the international health community back to its founding principles, to revive "Health for All" and to reinstall legitimacy with broad representation, a People's Health Assembly (PHA) was held in 2000 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  On 8 December 2000, 1453 participants from 92 countries, endorsed the People's Charter for Health as a tool for advocacy and a rallying point around which the global health movement can come together and other networks and coalitions can be formed. The first paragraph of the preamble of the Charter encapsulates the essentials of this social justice movement to achieve Health for All:  

 

"Health is a social, economic and political issue and above all a fundamental human right. Inequality, poverty, exploitation, violence and injustice are at the root of the ill-health and deaths of poor and marginalized people. Health for all means that powerful interests have to be challenged, that globalization has to be opposed and that political and economic priorities have to be drastically changed." 

 

In effect, the People's Health Movement (PHM) created after PHA, to take forward the People's Charter for Health, is promoting a reappropriation by the people of decision-making in health including what happens at WHO --so it takes up its public health responsibilities. In addition to promoting the social justice approach to health through networking between groups and associations of grassroots health workers and advocates, the PHM maintains an eye on WHO, provides policy input on a variety of issues and lobbies for proper attention to the social and economic determinants of health. 

 

We, the People and Health for All - NOW

 

Reappropriation of some of the responsibilities and functions of WHO by the people depends in part on the simple, yet not easy task of returning decision-making power, throughout the UN, to Member States.  We refer here not only to the unfair power distribution in the Security Council, but to the undisguised manipulations behind the scenes on the part of the powerful Member States to ensure that less powerful Member States vote "correctly".  

 

Undemocratic practices at the UN are of course only a reflection of power relations in the outside world. A democratic UN can only start to fulfil its original mandate as expressed in its Charter when Member States themselves start to represent their own people.  This implies an end to powerful nations' interference in the democratic processes of sovereign nations and an end to their support of puppet regimes installed to ensure uninterrupted exploitation of human and material resources.  In turn, these measures imply an end to the unprecedented and growing power of transnational corporations which today are indistinguishable from "elected" governments in the power they wield.  

 

At the same time, bearing in mind the ultimate goal of Health for All - NOW, people are already wielding power and taking back some of the roles and functions needed to achieve Health for All -Now. The victory of the people of Cochabamba, Bolivia (against the privatisation of water), of Placimada in Kerala (against the giant Coca Cola), of the 'Sin Terra' movement in Brazil to obtain land for subsistence for thousands of families, and of the health workers of El Salvador to stop privatization of health services are examples of successful popular pro-health actions. 

 

To those who claim that these issues lie outside, for instance, WHO's mandate, we reply that as undisputed key determinants of public health, they are central to the role WHO should play. 

 

Health for All - NOW cannot wait for results to be achieved through lobbying efforts of NGOs at the World Health Assembly. As the People's Health Movement has shown through its participation in World Social Fora, a reappropriation of Health for All requires joining forces with the worldwide movement for social justice in its many other forms.  It will require alliances with trade unions, people's movements for democracy, community associations, the independent media, the independent academic and research community and political parties committed to real social justice. It will require political action and an explicit rejection of exhortations not to "politicise" health issues. Health is political and the international health community has been infiltrated by neoliberal ideology to a point where untruths may be presented as scientific fact without a reaction of dissent from the ranks. 

 

Health for All - NOW is not an empty slogan; neither is it utopian. However, it is cannot be achieved without a fair and rational international economic order in a world of plenty. For as long as global health policy is allowed to be driven by neoliberal ideology, and for as long as global health actions I are restricted to the sphere of charity and/or international disease-centred aid, the only achievement will be clean consciences for those with fat wallets.    

 

The Vision statement of the PHM is reserved as the last word here on "Health for All - Now".  

"Equity, ecologically-sustainable development and peace are at the heart of our vision of a better world - a word in which a healthy life for all is a reality . . .There are more than enough resources to achieve this vision." 

AK
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