PHM-Exch> Bulletin #14: A more caring world

Fri Dec 3 23:04:00 PST 2021

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Peoples Health Dispatch <health at peoplesdispatch.org>
Date: Fri, Dec 3, 2021 at 11:53 PM
Subject: Bulletin #14: A more caring world
To: <ana at phmovement.org>

This fortnight This 28 November marked three years since the passing of
Amit Sengupta, one of the founders of the People’s Health Movement, whose
contribution to the global health movement is difficult to express in
words. Amit was thoroughly dedicated to the idea of health for all, and he
often said that achieving it also implied building a world which is more
just and, importantly, more caring. Since he last called

Bulletin #14: A more caring world
<https://peoples-health-dispatch.ghost.io/bulletin-14-a-more-caring-world/>
By People's Health Dispatch – 03 Dec 2021 – View online →
<https://peoples-health-dispatch.ghost.io/bulletin-14-a-more-caring-world/>

This fortnight

This 28 November marked three years since the passing of Amit Sengupta
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2018/12/07/a-tribute-to-comrade-dr-amit-sengupta/>,
one of the founders of the People’s Health Movement, whose contribution to
the global health movement is difficult to express in words. Amit was
thoroughly dedicated to the idea of health for all, and he often said that
achieving it also implied building a world which is more just and,
importantly, more caring. Since he last called for a more caring world at
the 4th People’s Health Assembly in Savar in 2018, it has not yet become
reality, but people all around the world continue to be driven by the idea
of it.

At the end of November this year, two international organisations were
supposed to hold high-level meetings which could influence the course of
the pandemic response in the months to come. While the World Health
Assembly (WHA) began a special session to discuss the Pandemic Treaty
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QpcXIiXScE>, a new instrument to guide
future pandemic responses, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was getting
ready to hold the first in-person Ministerial Conference in four years.

The WHA went ahead, but the MC was cancelled at the very last minute when
scientists from South Africa alerted the world about the Omicron variant.
Numerous health and trade activists were still able to march through the
streets of Geneva and call for the WTO to adopt a TRIPS waiver to allow
equitable distribution of Covid-19 medical products, stop vaccine
apartheid, and minimize the risk of new variants. We talked to Fatima Hassan
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/03/big-pharma-should-not-be-the-one-calling-the-shots-during-the-pandemic/>
from Health Justice Initiative about the significance of the TRIPS waiver.
We also bring a report
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/01/peoples-movements-trade-unions-and-left-parties-join-hands-demanding-trips-waiver-on-covid-19-medical-products/>
from the central mobilization in Geneva.

The protests were special not only because they were the first in-person
action since pre-pandemic times for many, but also because they brought
together different movements. This time, trade and health activists joined
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/03/why-should-health-activists-care-about-wtos-agenda/>
forces, signalling to the world that they have a lot in common.

Workers, including those in the health sector, have also ramped up their
support of the TRIPS waiver. Recently, a coalition of dozens of nursing
associations, as well as one of the biggest international trade union
councils, have sent appeals to governments and UN
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/03/the-trips-waiver-proposal-is-a-workplace-issue/>
agencies to act on behalf of the people of the world and suspend
intellectual property rights that are obstructing access to vaccines.

All this has happened as uncertainties about Omicron
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/03/omicron-the-new-covid-19-variant-what-is-it-all-about/>
have quickly spread around. To provide more clarity, we bring an explainer
with Dr Satyajit Rath and we look into the new aspects of discrimination
that the new variant has brought along, in our *Data speaks* section.
------------------------------

*Why should health activists care about WTO’s agenda?
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/03/why-should-health-activists-care-about-wtos-agenda/>*

While the recently cancelled WTO Ministerial Council was supposed to
discuss the TRIPS waiver, its agenda included other topics that should be
taken seriously by health activists

*People’s movements, trade unions, and left parties join hands demanding
TRIPS waiver on COVID-19 medical products
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/01/peoples-movements-trade-unions-and-left-parties-join-hands-demanding-trips-waiver-on-covid-19-medical-products/>*

After the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference was called off following the
discovery of the Omicron variant, trade unions, civil society organizations
and parties on the left ramped up actions in favor of a TRIPS waiver for
Covid-19 medical products

*“Big Pharma should not be the one calling the shots during the pandemic”
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/03/big-pharma-should-not-be-the-one-calling-the-shots-during-the-pandemic/>*

Fatima Hassan from Health Justice Initiative talks about the TRIPS waiver
proposal, vaccine apartheid, and the WTO’s role in pandemic response and
recovery

*The TRIPS waiver proposal is a workplace issue*
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/03/the-trips-waiver-proposal-is-a-workplace-issue/>

Trade unions and health workers are increasing their pressure to make the
small group of rich countries blocking the TRIPS waiver proposal back off
------------------------------

*Video: What to expect from the WHO's Pandemic Treaty*
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QpcXIiXScE>

Natalie Rhodes of the People's Health Movement and Priti Patnaik, Founding
Editor at the Geneva Health Files, talk about the pandemic treaty of the
World Health Organization, what lies ahead, and how it could address future
health emergencies
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QpcXIiXScE>

*Video: ‘Omicron’ the new Covid-19 variant: What is it all about?
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/03/omicron-the-new-covid-19-variant-what-is-it-all-about/>*

Immunologist Dr. Satyajit Rath and NewClick’s Editor-in-Chief Prabir
Purkayastha discuss the new variant, Omicron and the precautions necessary
to stop its greater spread
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyuyKFECeB4&feature=emb_imp_woyt>
------------------------------
Data speaks
------------------------------
In case you missed it
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<https://doctorswithoutborders-apac.org/en/world-aids-day-myanmar-political-turmoil-threatens-hiv-care>
The ease of the virus in vaccine apartheid - RLS Geneva
Omicron. It was with science and conscience that Johannesburg immediately
shared the genome sequence of the variant. A gesture of epidemiological
responsibility, but also of rare political coherence. It is a pity that
Europe, together with Switzerland and the USA, responded to the South
African tran…
RLS Geneva
<https://rosalux-geneva.org/the-ease-of-the-virus-in-vaccine-apartheid/>
Omicron throws spotlight on South Africa’s faltering vaccination campaign
Most South Africans say they are happy to get a COVID-19 jab, but a lack of
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<https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2021/11/29/Omicron-throws-spotlight-on-South-Africas-vaccination-campaign>
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Many issues which need to be addressed to properly strengthen international
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Read more
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<https://phmovement.org/do-we-need-a-pandemic-treaty-now-policy-brief-by-peoples-health-movement/?fbclid=IwAR2T0cBrYP4Zh52MvnTRyk8t5DWiqoi5ocWDud4s6bDGdBUxRUlCZ7wvV-w>
Colombia: Shoots on sight: eye trauma in the context of the National Strike
- Amnesty International
This report, produced jointly by the Programa de Acción por la Igualdad y
la Inclusión Social (PAIIS) of the Universidad de los Andes, Temblores and
Amnesty International, documents the violent repression of social protest
in Colombia in the context of the National Strike that began in April 2021
an…
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<https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr23/5005/2021/en/>
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Romania’s Covid-19 related vaccination campaign was successfull at first.
But then ‘vaccine skepticism’ began to spread everywhere. Rather than
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<https://blogs.mediapart.fr/berliner-gazette/blog/231121/black-box-east-politics-avoidable-covid-19-deaths-romania>
Cuba’s Vaccine Could End up Saving Millions of Lives
Thanks to its public biotech sector and its government’s deep commitment to
public health, Cuba is now the only low-income country to have made its own
COVID vaccine. It’s already helped millions of Cubans, and it’s poised to
help millions more around the world.
•Branko Marcetic
<https://jacobinmag.com/2021/11/cuban-covid-vaccine-pandemic-biotech-research/?fbclid=IwAR17_QL7J_WupKUcUW1UVcWulUS9W_Ngmkc9RIn4IUBoMSYwV9ANJJKsdIY>
*People’s Health Dispatch is an initiative of Peoples Dispatch and the
People's Health Movement*
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