PHA-Exchange> PHA 2 Media coverage- British Medical Journal- STORY 1: Global right to health campaign launched

[UNNIKRISHNAN P.V. (Dr)]

BMJ  2005;331:252 (30 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7511.252-a 

 

News

The People's Health Movement Assembly, Cuenca, Ecuador 18-23 July 

Global right to health campaign launched 

Ronald Labonte 
Cuenca 
The People's Health Movement, an international organisation of health
activists, launched a new global campaign on the right to health at its
second assembly in Cuenca, Ecuador, held from 18 to 23 July. 
"The campaign in its first cycle will focus on the right to health
care," said Abhay Shukla, co-convenor of the People's Health Movement in
India. Dr Shukla works with a highly visible campaign for the right to
health care in his own country that has documented hundreds of cases of
denial of access, often resulting in serious health and financial
consequences. The campaign has organised several local "people's health
tribunals" and regional public hearings, with the support of the
National Human Rights Commission of India. 
"Access to health care is becoming a burning issue world-wide," Dr
Shukla continued. "It is also directly amenable to actions from within
the health sector, has a single group of target decision makers, and
presents an important set of clear achievable outcomes." 
These outcomes included strengthening universal and comprehensive
healthcare systems in all countries and lobbying to change global patent
and trade rules and conditions associated with the international
financial institutions that presently undermine access, he said. 
Assembly delegates from many countries attested to the campaign's
importance. Increasing erosion in access to universal health care,
growth of unregulated private providers, and declines in public funding
are leaving millions of people without insured services. The Global
Health Watch, an alternative world health report also launched at the
assembly, cites evidence of surging medical poverty in many developing
countries embracing market reforms, where lack of public health care is
forcing families to exhaust what small savings they have on private
treatments. 
  _____  

{webplus.f1}Longer versions of these articles are on bmj.com 
The Global Health Watch report is available at  <http://www.ghwatch.org>
www.ghwatch.org. 
 

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