PHM-Exch> [PHM NEWS] Updates from Gender Justice Thematic Group

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Sarojini N B <sarojini at phmovement.org>


Greetings from PHM Gender Justice Thematic Group!


As we progress towards streamlining the Gender Justice Thematic Group as
part of People’s Health Movement’s campaign, we take a moment to honor our
departed comrades Dr. Amit Sengupta and Prof. David Sanders. They were the
founding members of the People’s Health Movement (PHM), and their
dedication and commitment to the movement continue to shape and inspire us
all. With their untimely passing, the baton has been passed to us to
continue the work they had initiated on the realization of the goal of
“Health for all,” with renewed zeal and commitment.Their contribution to
the PHM is enormous and this initiative is one part of it.

Through this, we intend to continue sharing opportunities for
participation/ representation, publications and other resources towards
building perspective and understanding on Gender Justice and Health that
formally began with the 4th People Health Assembly. These events present
vital opportunities to engage with national, regional and international
organisations and institutions on public health concerns, and influence
international health and development policy.

We are pleased to share with you some of the upcoming international events
and conferences that will benefit from your participation. In the same
spirit, we encourage you to share with us and this group, other
opportunities – whether at your country level, regional level or other
global platforms – for us to participate and make interventions. Though
these are mainly global level events, we would like to emphasise that there
may be many regional, local and national level activities and events which
might be focusing on Gender , health and equity and justice issues. Since
we are not familiar with all the regional level and local level, please do
share with us the details.

*The upcoming events at international platforms*

   1. *UN High Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage | New York, USA*

The *UN High Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage* (UN-HLM) will take
place on *23 September, 2019* during United Nations General Assembly high
level week in New York. The theme for UN-HLM is “Universal Health Coverage:
Moving Together to Build a Healthier World”. It is an opportunity to
mobilise high-level political attention on this theme globally and in our
respective countries. A political declaration has been prepared,
https://www.un.org/pga/73/wp-content/uploads/sites/53/2019/09/UHC-HLM-silence-procedure.pdfwhich
is to be adopted at the meeting, but there are concerns about specific
commitments and proposed actions in the declaration that need to be raised.
Some of the concerns are related to the shifting of focus from primary
health care to financing of curative healthcare services; suggestion of
committing an additional 1% GDP towards health budget to support UHC, which
is unfair for countries with different healthcare needs and public health
expenditure; and the increasing involvement of the private sector in
development of policies related to health and social welfare; and no
mention about sexual and reproductive health.  The language will not only
jeopardize the health and rights of girls, women, and marginalized
populations everywhere, but will also undermine the very goal of Universal
Health ‘Coverage’—to reach all people with the quality health services they
need, without financial and other hardships that pose barriers to access.

We will soon share the Assessment of Political Declaration by PHM and other
groups



   1. *Call to Engage in the Asia Pacific Beijing+25 Regional CSO Forum |
   Bangkok, Thailand*

*3.     *With the support of UN Women’s Regional Office for Asia and the
Pacific, the Asia-Pacific Beijing+25 Civil Society Steering Committee is
organizing the Regional CSO Forum in November 2019. Unfortunately, the
registration date for attending the Forum has passed, but if you wish to
apply for conducting workshops and to propose performance and solidarity
action, the *last date to apply is 23 September, 2019*.

*Link to access information:*
https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/news-and-events/events/2019/11/beijing-25-regional-cso-forum#view



*4.     **COPASH Global Symposium (COPGS*) *| New Delhi, India*

The Community of Practitioners on Accountability and Social Action in
Health (COPASH), a global community of practitioners that came together to
learn and share community-led practices around accountability and health
governance, is organizing a Global Symposium from *15 to 18 October, 2019*
in India with the theme of “*Leaving No One Behind: Strengthening Community
Centred Health System for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals.”*
R*egistration
can be done between 1 September, 2019 and 14 October, 2019*.

*Link to access information:* http://www.copasahglobalsymposium2019.net/

   1. *Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 | Nairobi, Kenya*

To mark 25 years of International Conference on Population and Development
(ICPD) in Cairo, a high-level conference is being organized *from 12 to 14
November, 2019,* to mobilize the political will and financial commitments
needed to fully implement the ICPD Programme of Action.

An alternative statement has been prepared by leading organizations and
networks in India, raising concerns over the re-emergence of population
regulation discourse and disincentives; diverting funds from an already
inadequate Health Budget; unregulated private sector indulging in unethical
practices; need for comprehensive sexuality education; rights of LGBTI,
persons with disability, sex workers; malnutrition among tribal population;
and other issues.

*Link to access information:* https://www.nairobisummiticpd.org/

   1. *Community Health Worker (CHW) Symposium 2019 | Dhaka, Bangladesh*

The 2nd International Symposium on Community Health Workers will be held
between 22 and 24 November, 2019, in Bangladesh. The local and
international community engaged in research/ policy making on CHWs should
attend the symposium to formulate strategic pathways for better community
healthcare programmes for prevention and control of Non-Communicable
Diseases. The last date for early bird registration *is 30 September, 2019*.

Link to access information: http://chwsymposium2019.icddrb.org/



*II. We are happy to share with you some of the recent publications and
resources on the public health movement, population discourse and other
concerns**:*

   1. *Declaration of the 4th People’s Health Assembly (PHA4)* – The
   declaration is inspired by the memory and work of Dr. Amit Sengupta. It is
   primarily based on six thematic working groups with a vision of equity,
   ecological sustainability and health for all, with a view to build
   capacities and strengthen alliances. This includes themes of Gender Justice
   and Health, Environment and Ecosystem, Food and Food sovereignty, Trade and
   Health, Equitable Health System and War and Conflict, Occupation and Forced
   Migration. You can access the declaration in six languages at
   https://phmovement.org/declaration-pha4/.
   2. *People’s Health Movement Annual Report 2018* – The Annual Report of
   2018 highlights the regional activities as well as global engagements. You
   can get the copy of report at
   https://phmovement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2019-08-02-2018-Annual-report-final-compressed.pdf
   .
   3. *Confronting populationism: Feminist challenges to population control
   in the era of climate change* – The paper talks about three forms of
   populationism named Demo-populationsim, Geo-populationism and
   Bio-populationism mobilizing feminist challenge to the present
   manifestations of population control. There is a constant prevalence of
   population control ideology and population alarmism in sustainable
   development and climate change policy, which the paper challenges, and
   links population reduction with climate change adaptation and mitigation,
   and the survival of the planet.
   4. *From Primary health care to universal health coverage – one step
   forward and two steps back* – The commentary gives an insight on the
   historicity of Primary Health Care (PHC) locating it from Alma Ata
   Conference giving emphasis on establishment of a New International Economic
   Order (NIEO) based on the rights of people under colonial domination. It
   looks at the insurance based models of Universal Health Coverage which
   negatively affect the funding for PHC and other public health programmes,
   and the Declaration of Astana in 2018 that confines health sector to a
   restricted role.
   5.  *Struggles for Health: An Emancipatory Approach in the Era of
   Neoliberal Globalization* – The booklet has its origin in a meeting in
   autumn 2016, attended by over thirty activists, researchers and health
   professionals from Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and North America.
   After intensive discussions and debates the meeting concluded unanimously
   that the struggle for health is a political struggle which challenges the
   fundamental practices of our society and the trends which shape them.
   6. *Governing for Health: **Advancing Health and Equity through Policy
   and Advocacy,** Fran Baum*

Argues that the dominance of economics in contemporary government and
politics is a threat to the sustainability of human life on planet earth
and offers examples of practical measures to change the way we measure
progress, how we plan our cities, maintain strong public sectors, and
promote a low-carbon economy - all as signposts to toward healthier,
sustainable, and more equitable societies Includes innovative "well-being
manifesto" — a guide for politicians who want to govern for health and
equity.

   1. Sama Resource Group for Women and Health has developed a trailer
   <https://youtu.be/so_L0yRx5bw> of the film “*Can we see the baby bump
   please*”. The 49-minute film, directed by Surabhi Sharma and produced by
   Sama, brings out the complex contested terrains of commercial surrogacy in
   India that can be relevant to other countries as well.

*These resources represent a small fraction of the enormous amount of work
being done globally on public health, equity etc. Please do share if you
come across any interesting article/essay/film/documentary/poem/poster on
the theme.*

Do share any other resources and publications that would help us all to
build our knowledge base, learn about exciting new developments and
successes in the theory and practice of public health,  gender and equip us
with knowledge about emerging challenges.

*III. Action Plans*

To strengthen regional chapters on Gender Justice Thematic group and have
more spaces for regular and interactive conversations on health, its
determinants and other related issues, we would like to propose the
following media and themes to take it forward.

   1. A series of podcasts or webinars on:

a.     Before commencement of the UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health
Coverage and the responses on SRHR;

b.    Gender Based Violence;

d.     Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights;

e. Right to Safe Abortion

e.     Conflict and Health

f.      Mental Health.

g.     Disability and Sexual Health

h.     Migration and women’s health

i.      Gender and NCDs

j.      Issues related to women Health Workforce

k.     Other issues

Please add if you think of any other issues related to the thematic group.
However, some of them will be covered in the other thematic groups of PHM.

   1. Blog posts or commentaries on issues of gender and public health.

We invite you to share your thoughts and commentaries in the form of blogs
and short articles (about 500 words), which can be posted on the PHM
website.

Anyone interested to write, speak, podcost can write to us indicating your
interest in a specific theme of regional importance and relevance. To kick
things off, Sarojini, Deepa and Sulakshana are planning to do a podcast on
UHC and gender, SRHR. More details will be shared soon.

We look forward to receiving your suggestions, ideas and resources from
other parts of the world as well.

Warm Regards

Sarojini N

On behalf of PHM Gender Justice Thematic Group

(with support from Deepa & Sama team)
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