PHM-Exch> "A Political Economy Analysis of the Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Health Workers: Making power and gender visible in the work of providing care"- Commentary by Health Systems Thematic Circle Members

[Sulakshana Nandi]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Deepika Joshi <deepika at phmovement.org>

Dear all

We are pleased to share a commentary by the PHM Health Systems Thematic
Circle on the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on health workers. The commentary
is titled *"A Political Economy Analysis of the Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic
on Health Workers: **Making power and gender visible in the work of
providing care"*
Link-
https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/political-economy-analysis-impact-covid-19-pandemic-health-workers
.

The commentary was commissioned by the "Covid–19: The Social and Human
Costs of Pandemic Response" project of the Global Health Justice
Partnership of the Yale Law and Public Health Schools to the PHM Health
Systems Thematic Group.

We again thank the country circles who had submitted case studies as part
of the HS thematic circle's call last year.

The abstract for the commentary is pasted *below*. We hope you find it
useful. Look forward to your feedback.

with regards
Deepika (on behalf of  Alba, Ana, Ben, Jashodhara, Lauren, Sulakshana,
Susana- Members, PHM Health Systems Circle)

*Abstract*

Health and auxiliary workers are at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic
response. They have been applauded as heroes by patients and politicians,
but this has not translated into policies that address their rights and
needs. Health workers face a double risk of infection, as they run the risk
of contracting the virus in their workplaces, and in their communities and
families (WHO 2020a).

This paper assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the most
vulnerable categories of health workers in different countries, locating
them within the country’s health system and political economy of
healthcare. It focuses on the impact of precarious and contractual work,
weakening of the public sector, privatization and commercialization of the
health system on health workers, and differences between the global north
and the global south, through an intersectional lens. Finally, it provides
policy recommendations embedded within the framework of labour and
socio-economic justice.

The commentary was jointly undertaken by activists, academics & union
members associated with PHM and PHM Health Systems Thematic Circle through
a methodology which we call  "Collective Knowledge Production as Movement
Work" . It took from case studies submitted by different PHM county circles
on the issue and also literature review and participatory observation from
the authors.

Using the theoretical frameworks on employment relations, working
conditions and health inequalities proposed by Benach & Muntaner (2013), we
develop a theoretical framework to analyse the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic on health and auxiliary workers. We also draw on the concept of
“care extractivism” as articulated by Wichterich (2020), as well as work
of People’s Health Movement (PHM) on health inequities and social
determinants of health (Baum et al 2009; Sanders 2019; Paremoer et al 2021).

To underline the specific effects of inequalities and power relations among
countries, social groups, and occupational groups, we focused on three
categories of health workers who are situated at the lower levels of the
hierarchy of health-related professions, namely nurses, community health
workers (CHWs), and auxiliary workers.

 Auxiliary workers include laboratory and other technicians, workers
involved in long-term care, sanitation workers, ward attendants,
administrative, security, catering and cleaning staff, pharmacists,
ambulance drivers, mortuary workers, carers providing homecare and home
nursing, and many other categories of workers. Many of these workers are
not commonly included in definitions of frontline health workers. This
paper discusses the reasons for such exclusions and the need for them to be
recognized as health workers.

*** END***

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