PHM-Exch> A note from the Global Coordinator: Post-PHA3 summary

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Bridget Lloyd <blloyd at phmovement.org>


Dear friends and comrades

Greetings from a very chilly Cape Town! It's a month since the 3rd People's
Health Assembly ended, and our friends from around the world left Cape
Town! Here is a brief summary of the events from mid June until mid July,
where Cape Town and particularly the University of the Western Cape was
buzzing with activity and actions towards health for all:

*International People's Health University (IPHU): The Struggle for Health
(25 June to 4 July).*
This was our first IPHU held in the southern part of Africa and was
attended by 53 young health activists from 25 different countries around
the globe, with the majority from Africa (35). Once again the IPHU had a
fantastic energy, with the young activists sharing their experience and
enthusiasm!! The IPHU has proven to be a extremely good foundation for
providing essential information and tools for developing a younger
generation of health activists - some of this comes from the wealth of
experience and the knowledge skillfully shared by the IPHU faculty
volunteers, but also the facilitated sharing of the IPHU alumni!. We look
forward to hearing more from these newest IPHU alumni and how they have
used the IPHU and PHA to strengthen and / or build PHM and actions towards
health for all in their communities and region!

*National Health Assembly (5 and 6 July): *
South Africa PHM had a very successful National Health Assembly (NHA) on
the 5th and morning of 6th July, which was attended by about 300 people.
The focus of the NHA was the publicly funded National Health Insurance
(NHI), which has already started in a few pilot sites. There is a strong
need for civil society engagement around the NHI and this Assembly provided
a good platform for laying a foundation and planning such an engagement.
The meeting developed a Call to Action and a follow up meeting is planned
for 8th September

*People's Health Assembly (PHA) 6-11 July:*
Events culminated in the People's Health Assembly which saw around 1000
people representing more than 90 countries coming together to analyse,
discuss and plan around the continuing global health crisis, worsened
because of structural and socio-political determinants and the inequities
persisting within and between countries.

After about 18 months of mobilisation, consultation and pulling together a
very exciting programme, people from around the globe started gathering in
Cape Town. As with many such large events, we were faced with many calls
for help as embassies stalled issuing visa's (as with the case of our
Bangladeshi colleagues), people struggled to get tickets and first time
travelers were worried about getting here! Well it finally all came
together very successfully - apart from the weather which was mainly pretty
awful and where many discovered Africa can be very cold!!

>From 5th July, Cape Town was buzzing with health activists gathering from
around the world!  The Assembly was not only a time for sharing and
solidarity, but also a time to reflect on what we do and how best to move
forward.  There were 175 speakers, representing 45 countries in the morning
sessions alone! In the afternoon self organised events were held. The
programme was full and the main complaint was that it was difficult to
decide what to attend. Please continue looking at our website as
presentations submitted are all being uploaded.

In addition to reflecting on and receiving inspiration and input on our
current PHM programmes, PHA provided the opportunity for new actions and
areas of focus for PHM including extractive industries, food sovereignty,
anti-privatisation campaign and gender and violence, CHW's, IP and of
course mobilisation and action around health systems strengthening and
universal coverage. We need you all and the continued energy and solidarity
of PHA to move these all forward.

In advance and during the course of PHA, a Cape Town Call to Action was
developed - this sketches out the problems as we see them, and provides
proposals for clear actions to change things for the better. The
Call-to-Action is still available on our website (www.phmovement.org) for
input - but you need to be quick as this will be finalised soon!

The Assembly ended with a march in the centre of Cape Town to the South
African National Parliament, where the Call-to Action was handed over to a
representative asked to receive this on behalf of governments around the
world.

PHM is undergoing a governance renewal process and after PHA, we had an
extended Steering Committee meeting on the 12th and 13th July. This was
very productive meeting and extremely essential! The 1st day was spent
looking at PHA and follow up on actions; the 2nd day was looking at
structural issues. Key points from the meetings will be circulated soon.

There is much to do to sustain the energy and enthusiasm generated through
the Assembly. We hope that everyone who attended the Assembly can carry the
energy and solidarity from the Assembly back to your countries and
communities and that we can all move forward with a renewed sense of
commitment towards actions that will make our communities, countries and
the world a more equitable and just place.

A huge thank you to everyone who supported, sacrificed, shared and
mobilised to make this Assembly happen. We now need to keep up the momentum!

Yours in warmth and solidarity
Bridget


-- 
Bridget Lloyd
Global Coordinator People's Health Movement

Tel: +27 (0) 83 3833511              -  Fax: +27 (0) 866707216
Mailing Address: PO Box 13698, St Peter's Square, Mowbray 7705, Cape Town,
South Africa
www.phmovement.org
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