PHA-Exch> statement of international federation of health and human rights organzations on Zimbabwe

[Claudio Schuftan]

from Leonard Rubenstein <LRubenstein at phrusa.org> wrote:
>
> President
> Physicians for Human Rights
> Washington, DC
>
> IFHHRO statement on health and human rights in Zimbabwe
>
> Harare, 30 October 2007
>
> The International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organisations
> (IFHHRO), a federation of organisations around the globe engaging doctors,
> nurses and other professionals in promoting human rights, held its annual
> meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 24 to 26 October on the theme "Equitable
> health care systems and the right to health".  Representatives from 24
> countries considered strategies to advance the human right to the highest
> attainable standard of health in Zimbabwe and throughout the world.  IFHHRO
> thanks its Zimbabwe member, Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human
> Rights, for hosting the meeting, and appreciates the participation of the
> Zimbabwe Medical Association and the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child
> Welfare in the conference program.
>
> The meeting took place against the background of an economic, public
> health and human rights crisis in Zimbabwe, which together are having
> devastating consequences on the lives, health and human rights of the people
> of Zimbabwe. Allied to its conference activities, IFHHRO representatives had
> an opportunity to hear presentations and/or meet with community members,
> health providers in the public and private sectors, non-governmental
> organizations including faith-based organizations, and the Ministry of
> Health and Child Welfare, and prepared this statement on health and human
> rights in Zimbabwe.
>
> The health and human rights situation in Zimbabwe
>
> Like many nations in southern Africa, people in Zimbabwe suffer from high
> rates of malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/Aids, and other infectious diseases,
> from a very high maternal mortality ratio, and the effects of widespread
> poverty and deprivation. Zimbabwe's economic crisis, characterized by
> hyperinflation of 8000%, 80% unemployment, minimal agricultural production
> and a dire shortage of foreign currency, has multiple and reinforcing
> effects on these endemic public health concerns and on the right to health
> itself.  Food, including staples such as flour, mealie-meal, bread, and
> milk, let alone cooking oil and meat, are largely unavailable in the markets
> and stores, and the poor often lack resources and transport to purchase the
> few supplies remaining on the parallel market.  Salaries of civil servants,
> including teachers, nurses, and doctors in the public sector have plummeted
> to less than US $20 a month, and sometimes much less, accelerating an
> already acute exodus of doctors and nurses, leaving huge vacancy rates in
> the public sector, where the vast majority of people receive services. The
> compensation for doctors and nurses is untenable: we even learned of nurses
> sleeping in parks because they could not afford transport to work. Medical
> education, once a source of great pride, has deteriorated as university
> staff leave, resulting in staff/student ratios on clinical rounds at an
> unacceptable 1:25. Zimbabwe used to have several thousands of doctors. Now
> only several hundreds remain.
>
> The economic crisis has also led to rapid deterioration of key
> infrastructure for economic activity and public health, notably power and
> water.  The water crisis is most acute in Bulawayo, where certain areas have
> recently gone without water for weeks and months at a time, requiring the
> digging of wells and hurried construction of latrines in a large urban area.
> Even in Harare, water is often available only intermittently in some
> areas.   Although no data is currently available, the risk of increase of
> diarrheal diseases and even cholera is evident as individuals dig shallow
> wells and are also forced to defecate outside when there is no water. There
> are confirmed cases of dysentery in all suburbs of Harare. Electricity is
> only occasionally available now in most urban areas.
>
> The combined effects of the economic crisis and compromised infrastructure
> express themselves throughout the health system, which was once a model for
> all of southern Africa. IFHHRO learned, for example that the blood bank in
> Harare had to destroy its entire supply of blood when power outages
> prevented refrigeration of blood. Essential medical supplies, such as
> rudimentary requirements for testing blood and urine to make sound
> diagnoses, re-hydration supplies, and other essential consumables have
> become only intermittently available; the shortage also creates pressure to
> charge patients for these items, which are not only unaffordable and come at
> a time when the poor are becoming much poorer, but violates the right to
> health as enshrined in article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic,
> Social, and Cultural Rights. Manufacture of generic drugs is declining
> because of lack of supplies, and pharmacies in many areas run out of
> essential medications that need to be purchased with foreign exchange. While
> the HIV prevalence rate is dropping, waiting lists for anti-retroviral (ARV)
> treatment remain long. We met people whose very lives hang in the balance as
> they desperately seek to move up the list. Many patients die or deteriorate
> irreversibly before their turn to receive ARVs comes.
>
> It is not the economic crisis alone that has brought about this
> catastrophe and led to deep and wide violations in the availability,
> accessibility, acceptability and quality of health services that are at the
> heart of the right to health (see General Comment 14, para.12, UN
> Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights). The legacy of Operation
> Murambatsvina ("Clean Up The Filth") campaign is still fresh, and the more
> than 700,000 people who were directly (and 2.4 million indirectly)
> violently displaced by the campaign still have received no form of justice
> or compensation, and large numbers of victims remain insecure and
> vulnerable. In fact, the operation is still ongoing.
>
> Due to lack of adequate perinatal care, maternal mortality is rising to a
> level which meets that of the world poorest countries. These and other
> factors have led to an average life expectancy that, according to the WHO,
> declined from 60 years to 37 years for men and 34 for women during the past
> decade. It is estimated that 40% of the Zimbabwean people suffer from
> serious depression. At the same time, the government is escalating
> state-sponsored violence on political opponents, using tactics including
> torture, assaults, and threats.  Credible sources report that between
> January and August, 2007, there were more than 1200 cases of unlawful
> arrests and detentions by police, military and security forces, more than
> 750 assaults, and more than 500 instances of torture inflicted by the
> government.
>
> Major forms of torture reported by victims and substantiated by medical
> examination include beatings and kicking, stress positions for lengthy
> periods of time, suspending victims in painful positions, electric shock,
> and psychological torture including forced nakedness.
>
> State-sponsored violence and intimidation has spread to the health sector.
> When medical students, along with other students at the University of
> Zimbabwe, protested increased fees for accommodations, the president of the
> medical students association, among others, was summarily
> expelled. Violations of human rights  have brought about a climate of fear
> and intimidation and undermined the right to health.
>
> IFHHRO salutes the thousands of health professionals and health workers in
> Zimbabwe who, despite personal economic hardship and conditions of life and
> practice that severely compromise their ability to provide the quality of
> care to which they are committed, persevere in serving their patients and
> communities as best they can. Their dedication and courage are
> unsurpassed.  But that dedication and courage is no substitute for action by
> the Government of Zimbabwe to comply with its obligations under human rights
> principles and law.
>
> Calling the government of Zimbabwe to account
>
> In October, 2007, the World Medical Association passed a resolution that
> recognized the "collapsing health system and public health crisis in
> Zimbabwe," and noted the existence of systematic and repeated violations of
> human rights related to free expression and personal integrity. It also took
> note of escalating state torture, threats to health care workers, denial of
> access to persons associated with the opposition political party, and
> threats to the clinical independence of physicians. It called upon all
> member national medical associations, and the Zimbabwe Medical Association
> in particular, to "create an environment where all Zimbabweans have equal
> access to quality health care and medical treatment, irrespective of
> political affiliation," to end the use of torture and other forms of cruel,
> inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment, to affirm clinical independence,
> and to take other steps including an international fact-finding mission to
> address the health needs of the citizens of Zimbabwe.
>
> The International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organisations
> supports the resolution of the World Medical Association demanding action by
> its member national medical associations. Adherence to the universal
> principles of human rights, however, requires immediate steps by the
> Government of Zimbabwe, to end the human rights violations that are causing
> intense and unwarranted suffering by the people of Zimbabwe and severe
> impairment of their health. These rights include the right to the highest
> attainable standard of health, the right to free expression, the right to
> protection against torture, the right to due process of law, and more. The
> Government of Zimbabwe must:
>
> *       Cease the use of violence, intimidation, torture and violations of
> due process of law;
> *       Respect freedom of expression including rights of students to
> improve the conditions of their education;
> *       Take all steps within its power to protect, respect and fulfil the
> right to health for all members of the community, even within the economic
> constraints it faces;
> *       Create conditions under which good training quality for health
> professionals is guaranteed;
> *       Provide adequate infrastructure needed for effective and efficient
> healthcare, such as: running water, electricity, transport, drugs and
> medical equipment;
> *       Establish safe and transparent conditions for young Zimbabweans
> during their mandatory stay within the National Youth Services.
> *       Ensure sustainable agricultural production that is the mainstay of
> the Zimbabwean economy so as to guarantee food security.
>
> IFHHRO also calls upon regional and world leaders and their governments to
> condemn the actions of the Government of Zimbabwe that violate the human
> rights of their citizens, and ensure that claims of sovereignty are not used
> as an excuse for escaping accountability for imposing suffering on the
> people of Zimbabwe.
>
> INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF
> HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20071122/a1d4b186/attachment-0001.html>