PHM-Exch> From the Global Secretariat

Tue Jan 1 01:46:08 PST 2013

From: Bridget Lloyd <blloyd at phmovement.org>
___________________________________________________________________

Dear PHM friends,

Greetings from the global secretariat!

In the last couple of months, the secretariat has worked further on
developing action plans proposed at PHA3, as well as working further on
things that arose during the steering council (SC) meeting that took place
immediately following the Assembly. We have also been putting efforts into
fundraising as our resources were much depleted with PHA3.

At the beginning of November, we used the opportunity of Amit Sengupta
(associate coordinator in Delhi) being in South Africa to have a
secretariat meeting. We were pleased that Hani Serag (associate coordinator
in the Cairo secretariat) could also join us.  The secretariat had not met
since January 2012, where much of the discussion was focused around PHA3
planning and fundraising, etc. David Sanders who is on the SC also joined
for much of the meetings. It was a very productive meeting and really
welcomed by all of us. We discussed follow up from PHA3; reporting;
fundraising; communications; planning for programmes, etc.  We met for two
days and our meetings carried on well into the evening!

Some of the highlights of the meeting were:

   - Brainstorming around how to further support movement building
   activities at local level and how to link some of the global programmes to
   local actions and movement building. The broad ideas had been endorsed by
   the SC and this meeting continued unpacking and elaborating further.
   - The Right to Health Campaign was discussed with proposed actions on
   how to build a global movement towards Health for All and how to continue
   mobilising health activists across the world.
   - We brainstormed on how to move ahead with GHW4 and what the role of
   PHM should be.
   - We discussed how to facilitate communications between health activists
   and how to improve communications from the governing bodies of PHM to the
   movement.
   - We further explored how to facilitate the governance renewal process
   - Suggestions were made on how to improve the visibility of the movement
   and how to attract new and young activists
   - Fundraising opportunities were explored and we discussed plans to
   propose for the budget 2013
   - And much more!

*Steering Council Meeting*
PHM tries to reduce central funding for Steering Council meetings, by using
opportunities where a number of SC friends would already be. We have been
very fortunate to have the generous support of Thailand to attend the
Prince Mahidol Award Conference over the last years, and they have again
offered support for  some from PHM in January 2013 to their conference with
the theme “A world United against infectious diseases – cross sectoral
solutions”. We will use this opportunity to have a face to face Steering
Council meeting on the 27th and 28th January 2013, in Bangkok. The main
focus of this meeting will be to elect the PHM Coordinating Commission; to
unpack responsibilities of the newly elected SC; to look at fundraising and
budgets for 2013; and, importantly, to discuss and get plans going for the
various programmes approved.

*Lancet Commission:*
PHM developed a proposal and is in the process of developing a number of
case studies for the Lancet Commission on Global Governance for Health.  We
are working with PHM issue groups, as well as  contacts within country
circles who have specific interest or expertise on the themes proposed for
case studies. More information will be shared soon.

*‘Health in the Post-2015 Development Agenda’*

PHM will be hosting a side event / post MDG consultation at the Prince
Mahidol Award Conference in Bangkok on the 29th January 2013. We will have
presentations from a number of countries in the Asia region, as well as a
few from other regions.

Our stand on the MDGs has always been quite critical – we have long argued
that the MDGs, while focusing on ends must engage in clear terms with the
means to achieve these ends. As recognized by the UN Post 2015 Task Team:
“this has been a lost opportunity to provide guidance on how to address the
root causes of poverty and unmet basic needs”. The MDGs were defined and
implemented in a top-down process and issues of equity, governance and
social and economic determinants were insufficiently addressed. Neglecting
these issues has led to the sub-optimal results in relation to the current
MDGs. PHM supports the Task Team’s call for transformative change and a
holistic approach with a focus on the core values of human rights, equity
and sustainability. PHM is of the opinion that the ‘core values’ should be
placed at the centre of the agenda.

This understanding will frame our session which will review progress,
initiate civil society discussions on the post-2015 health-related
development agenda and the role of civil society, as well as
initiate/consolidate a multi-actor policy dialogue at country, regional and
global levels on goals and targets of the post-2015 health related
development agenda.

*Communications:*
We have been looking at PHM communications internally and externally and
will be going through a process of improving these over the next months.
The website ist now being updated regularly – please view the pages: “About
PHM” and “How to get involved” – which have both been redone. Feedback
would be welcome. Anneleen (anneleen at phmovement.org) is also working with
countries to get country pages going – please do contact her should you
wish to be involved or wish to give feedback about the website

 The use of facebook for PHM is a difficult issue – we have some who are
opposed to it for various reasons including the lack of personal
communication; the fixation that some have with it (often taking them away
from important things!); the support this means for a large corporation,
etc. However, many of our younger activists use Facebook extensively and it
is a good way to reach some we would not otherwise reach. We do, therefore,
have a facebook page. Your thoughts would be welcome on this one as well!

*Endorsed statements*
PHM endorsed the open letter to WHO Member States on the occasion of the
open-ended Member States meeting on the follow up of the CEWG report
(November 26-28 2012). Over 60 NGOs signed the letter on the follow up of
the report of the Consultative Expert Working Group (CEWG). A shortened
version of this letter was delivered by HAI and KEI at the WHO's open-ended
Member States meeting.

PHM supports the campaign  Access to Trastuzumab – a life-saving
breast-cancer drug. The campaign is to make it available free at public
cancer treatment facilities and at an affordable price in the private
market.

*Statements by PHM:*

PHM very quickly developed a statement condemning the Israeli military
attack on Gaza. The statement was circulated via PHM Exchange and quickly
translated into Arabic, Spanish and French. It is available for viewing on
the PHM website.

As with any statements drawn up in such situations, the statement drew a
lot of responses, the majority thanking for the statement or endorsing it
positively. But some felt it was biased; others felt it was not strong
enough or political and analytical enough.

 Importantly, it got discussions going within the PHM SC about the role of
the SC in terms of getting input and support for statements. This is a
difficult issue to manage – we welcome assistance in developing statements,
but the speed we need to respond to some issues (such as this issue) often
minimises wide inputs into the statement. The statements are always guided
by the principles within the People’s Charter for Health, but is this
enough? How can we be more analytical and political? How can we get more
inputs? These are all things we need to further discuss and unpack at our
meeting in Bangkok – any input in advance would be welcome!!

 *End of year and moving forward *

With the planning, preparation and the wrap up of the third People’s Health
Assembly, 2012 was a busy year for the PHM secretariat. It was also
inspiring for us and we hope it was also inspiring for all our PHM friends.
We hope we can all enter 2013 with renewed energy and that 2013 will be a
year we can put some of our plans into action and continue to strengthen
the movement towards health for all.

Till next time!

Bridget

-- 
Bridget Lloyd
Global Coordinator People's Health Movement
Cape Town, South Africa
www.phmovement.org
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