PHM-Exch> WHO Exec Bd 130 Report on Second Day

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Alice Fabbri (PHM) <alealifab at gmail.com>


Highlights from the second day of the 130th Executive Board
Geneva, 17.01.12
Nomination of the Director-General
NGOs were not allowed to attend this session.
Appointment of the Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean
At its fifty-eighth session held in Cairo in October 2011, the Regional
Committee for the Eastern
Mediterranean nominated Dr Ala Din Alwan as Regional Director for the
Eastern Mediterranean.
Technical and health matters
*Early marriages, adolescent and young pregnancies *(EB document 130/12)
Cameroon was the first country who took the floor on behalf of AFRO. It
strongly supported the
document, especially the framework on adolescent health services. AFRO
urged greater
inclusion of youth, improved access to education for all and legislation
outlawing marriage before
18 years. Cameroon mentioned insufficient sex education, harmful cultural
practices, poverty as
the main factors responsible for the high incidence of early marriages and
reproductive
complications in the region. AFRO also asked to strengthening adolescent
health services and
reproductive health as well as overcoming cultural barriers.
India proposed a multisectoral approach integrating poverty alleviation,
education and
adolescent friendly health services by listing the societal effects it has
achieved following greater
retention of girls in schools (due to the adoption of an education act).
France, Germany and the
US considered early marriages a gross violation of fundamental human
rights. The US viewed
gender violence with concern, especially in the context of adolescent
marriages which are
largely ignored and wanted to see more concrete links between MDGs 2, 3, 4
and 5 in the
report. Germany highlighted the importance of early sex education saying
that this was
responsible for its very low incidence of cases.
Brunei targeted adolescent pregnancies by utilizing skilled midwives in its
primary health care
system. Yemen, among other things, recognized the need to reduce gender
stereotypes and
urged the UN to intensify efforts that consider early marriage and
pregnancy as priorities.
Norway, on behalf of the Scandinavian group, and the Netherlands noted that
the MDG on
maternal and reproductive health were the worst performing and deplored
female genital
mutilation. They asked for the inclusion of male youth into programmes and
opposed a rising tide
of resistance to fundamental human rights on sexual freedoms. The Holy See
condemned
gender violence and early marriages but was strongly troubled about
provisions in the draft that
promote access to so called “emergency contraception” and abortion.
According to its view, the
Vatican refused to defend any legal recognition of abortion which is
considered as an antithesis
of human rights.
The UNFPA representative stated that child marriage has historically
received little attention
quoting a UN report pointing out that marriage before 18 years is a
violation of human right. The
Special Adviser to DG on Family and Adolescent Matters reminded the EB that
the largest cohort
of birth ever seen, tagged the “millennium development babies”, were born a
decade ago and
are now entering adolescence. She urged commitment to protect this cohort.
In conclusion, all
regions except the Holy See did not fault the draft, but they urged more
integration between
MDGs, youth participation and greater multisectoral approach with emphasis
on education,
friendly health services and legislation.
*Monitoring of the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development
Goals*
The discussion on this item will be uploaded as soon as possibile.
Social determinants of health: outcome of the World Conference on Social
Determinants
of Health (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 2011) (EB document 130/15)
The afternoon discussion went on with Member States comments on EB Document
130/15:
“Social determinants of health: outcome of the World Conference on Social
Determinants of
Health”. While appreciating the report, all Member States congratulated the
Secretariat and the
Brazilian Government for the successful conference held in Rio de Janeiro
last October.
All Member States reaffirmed their commitment and recognized the importance
of incorporating
Social Determinants of Health (SDH) in all policies through a
multi-sectoral approach raising
policy makers awareness on this issue.
In particular Mozambique, speaking on behalf of the African Region,
highlighted the importance
of addressing SDH if countries want to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals.
The Norwegian delegate definitely made one of the most comprehensive
statement. He
mentioned equity as common denominator, he recalled the need for a strong
WHO to provide
technical support and guide Member States in implementing strategies based
on a SDH
approach, and finally proposed to include SDH in non-communicable diseases
monitoring.
It is important to report that Switzerland proposed to held a High Level
Meeting on SDH in 2013.
The Swiss delegate also questioned the health sector capacity to
effectively engage in true
dialogue with other sectors to develop coherence. As an example, he
reported that “in Rio, we
seemed to only have health ministries represented. We didn't really have a
multi-sectoral
approach".
The last who took the floor was the civil society with the statement by
Medicus Mundi
International (MMI) and People’s Health Movement (PHM). While recognizing
that the Rio
Conference was an excellent initiative, MMI and PHM stated that the
opportunity to purposively
build upon the valuable report of the Commission on Social Determinants of
Health was actually
missed. They urged Member States to consider the following as imperatives
while addressing
the SDH:
1. Building and strengthening of equity-based social protection systems and
effective publicly
provided and publicly financed health systems.
2. Use of progressive taxation, wealth taxes and the elimination of tax
evasion to finance action
on the social determinants of health.
3. Use of health impact assessments to document the ways in which
unregulated and
unaccountable transnational corporations and financial institutions on the
one hand, and the
global trading regime on the other, constitute barriers to Health for All.
4. Reconceptualisation of aid for health as an international obligation and
reparation, that is
legitimately owed to developing countries under basic human rights
principles.
5. Development and adoption of a code of conduct in relation to the
management of institutional
conflicts of interest in global health decision making.
6. Development of monitoring systems that provide disaggregated data on a
range of social
stratifiers as they relate to health outcomes.
The discussion on the resolution on SDH proposed by Brazil, Chile and
Ecuador closed this
session. The main objectives of this resolution would be the endorsement of
the Rio Declaration
by WHA 65th as well as the inclusion of SDH as a priority in the WHO reform
process. Estonia,
on behalf of European Union, and Canada requested to shorten the Rio
Declaration and build
the resolution on it without going beyond the wording there used.
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