PHM-Exch> [PHM NEWS] PHM India (JSA) - Health Manifesto to All Political

[Claudio Schuftan]

    From:    gpbaldew at gmail.com

Today across India<http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=28.6133333333,77.2083333333&spn=10.0,10.0&q=28.6133333333,77.2083333333%20%28India%29&t=h>,
people continue to suffer and die unnecessarily due
to poor access to affordable and effective health care and due to a range
of social and economic determinants that promote ill-health and
disease<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease>
.
Approximately 1.83 million children under five years of age die each
year in India. This is the highest number anywhere in the world.One-third
of all malnourished children live in India.

The cost of health care is a leading cause of poverty. National Sample
Survey Organisation's (NSSO) recent morbidity, healthcare survey,
estimates that around 63.22 million individuals or 11.88 million
households were pushed to BPL due to healthcare expenditure.
Paradoxically, all these are happening at a time when India has the
resources, knowledge and skills to usher in real change.

Given this context, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (PHM INdia) proposes below a set
of clear policy proposals. We would like to request all political parties
to commit themselves to these proposals, and if elected to power, to
deliver upon them. We are confident that these measures would be found to be
extremely popular among ordinary people, and parties which publicly
commit themselves to carrying out these measures would enjoy
widespread public support.


*Manifesto to promote health and healthcare  (excerpts)*

The right to health is a fundamental and universal right of all citizens and
this will need to be respected and realized within a time frame. The Right
to Health needs also to be located in the underlying determinants of
health such as access to safe water and sanitation, adequate food and
nutrition, housing, and secure livelihoods. Above all social inequities -
based ondisparities along gender, caste, class and other lines - have a
profound impact on the health of the poorest and the most marginalized.

At the same time the right to comprehensive quality health care services
is an important part of the Right to Health. To ensure the fulfillment of
this right, the public health system needs to be much better resourced,
expanded and made accountable so that it can provide free and health
care services that are comprehensive, of good quality and accessible to
all. The proliferation of an increasingly commercializedand exploitative
private medical sector is a major cause for concern and urgent measures
are required to reverse this trend and strictly regulate the cost, quality
and
ethical norms of services that the private sector provides.

The following concrete proposals are designed to reverse the present -
entirely unacceptable -- situation in the health sector, and to secure
conditions of living and health care services that promote health in all its
dimensions.

*1. Act on the Social Determinants of Health
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_determinants_of_health>:*

*2. Address the Gender dimensions of Health*:

3.*Immediately reverse Caste Based Discrimination
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste>*:

4. *Enact a Right to Health Act* which assures universal access to good
quality and comprehensive health care for all.

5. *Increase Public Expenditure on Health to 3.6% of GDP
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product> annually*

*6. Ensure quality and assured availability of health care:*
*7.Stop both Active and Passive Privatization of health care services:*

8.* Training of Health workforce:*

9.*Well Governed, Adequate Public Health
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_health> Workforce:*

10. *Secure access to quality assured essential medicines and diagnostic
services in all public health facilities*,* free of charge*.

11.* Participatory Planning, Community Participation and Community Based
Monitoring of health*.

12. *Eliminate Corruption in the Public Health System*

13. *Reverse Exploitation by private hospitalsand protect ethical private
non commercial private providers:*

14. *Absorb, over a period, existing publicly funded health insurance
schemes*
15. *Eliminate the role of multi-lateral and bilateral financing agencie*s
from all areas of technical assistance

16.* Build National and State level capacity for Health research and
development:*

17. *Ensure access to essential and safe Drugs & Devices*:

18. *Regulation of clinical trials and ethic*s in biomedical research:
and

19.
*Ensure access to treatment and care of persons with mental illness  *
Find the full manifesto at
http://www.kractivist.org/india-health-manifesto-to-all-political-parties-by-jsa/
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