PHM-Exch> PHM at the World Health Assembly: A Brief Report

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People's Health Movement (PHM) is committed to a stronger World Health 
Organization (WHO), adequately funded, with appropriate powers and owning the 
leading role in global health governance. PHM follows closely the work of WHO, 
through the initiative ‘Democratizing Global Health Governance’ which was 
launched by the PHM and several international civil society networks in May 
2010.

Within the framework of this initiative, the PHM has established a ‘WHO Watch’. 
The watch aims primarily at building capacity in supporting the WHO to regain 
its leadership role in global health governance according to its Constitution. 
WHO Watch mobilises a large number of health activists, civil society networks 
and academics to provide resources and evidence-based critiques related to the 
secretariat reports, draft resolutions, and other materials during the 
preparations to the WHO governance meetings especially the Executive Board (EB) 
meetings and the Assemblies.

From the beginning of May 2011 and during the 64th World Health Assembly (WHA) 
of WHO, held from 16 to 24 May 2011, 30 members of the ‘WHO Watch’ group from 
over 20 countries have been working through the agenda of the 64th WHA with the 
assistance of high level experts from a number of collaborating networks and 
NGOs. The following letters and statements on some of the agenda items of the 
64th WHA were drafted.

PHM letter to the 64th WHA
Distinguished delegate to the 64th World Health Assembly,
[...] The following comments on some of the agenda items of the 64th WHA were 
drafted for your kind consideration. More: English |Español

Statement to the 64th WHA, on agenda item 11: The Future of Financing for WHO
PHM calls upon WHO for accountability to people not dollars
The WHO is facing a financial crisis: programmes, projects and staffing face the 
prospect of being disbanded; the dominance of tied donor funding is having a 
terrible effect on administration. The WHO is also suffering from a crisis of 
identity and legitimacy; its role and mandate have been diluted and usurped by 
the proliferation of new actors in the field of global health. Inefficiencies 
within the organisational processes remain 
unresolved. More:  عربى | English | Français | Español

Statement read by the PHM at the 64th WHA on future financing of 
WHO. More | Hear it on Youtube

Statement read by the PHM at the WHA on infant and young child nutrition
Both under-nutrition and obesity are linked to the increasing dependence of poor 
countries on high-income countries for food security, which has been reinforced 
by trade agreements, climate change, and biofuels. Nutrition strategies should 
address the complex socioeconomic and political determinants of malnutrition. 
Governments and international bodies, like WHO, must advocate for the regulation 
of the trade and marketing of unhealthy foodstuffs, so as to protect the health 
of populations – and of children in particular – from aggressive corporate 
influence. More >>

Statement read at the 64th WHA on Non Communicable Diseases
Statement by Medicus Mundi International (MMI) and PHM
The NCDs initiative is too narrow in particular we believe it should include 
mental health. It is disappointing that there is no reference to the work of the 
CSDH in the report. Unhealthy behaviors do play an important role in determining 
NCDs however there are structural determinants like education, income, gender 
and ethnicity which are underlying causes of NCDs and behavioral risk factors. 
Clearly there are important equity dimension of NCDs as emphasized by CSDH and 
these variations are closely linked to the social and environmental factors; not 
just individual behaviors. More >>

Statement read at the 64th WHA on 
Substandard/spurious/falsely-labelled/falsified/counterfeit medical products
Statement by Thirld World Network (TWN)
We believe that every individual has a right to access safe, quality and 
efficacious medicine and steps do need to be taken to ensure the safety, quality 
and efficacy of medicines. More >>

Time to untie the knots: the WHO reform and the need of democratizing global 
health
Delhi Statement, coordinated by Medico International
Health is a common good that demands collective responsibility. Instead, 
structural violations of the right to health are produced by the dominant market 
dynamics and the uncontrolled influence of profit-driven transnational 
corporations, supported by the policies of international financial and trade 
institutions – the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World 
Trade Organization. Such violations are often unmonitored, unmeasured, and are 
too numerous to quantify. As they form part of a process of systematic 
violations of other rights - to gender equality, to water and food, to work and 
income, to housing and education - any commitment for the right to health cannot 
be conceived in isolation from a broader approach of universal social protection 
as a key policy to human development.More >>

More information at:

	* WHO Watch: http://www.ghwatch.org/who-watch
	* The 64th World Health Assembly through the eyes of PHM 'Watchers' - including 
daily reports: http://www.ghwatch.org/node/434--
Global Secretariat
People's Health Movement (PHM)
Email: globalsecretariat at phmovement.org
Web: www.phmovement.org