PHM-Exch> Fwd: Bulletin #15: Bad habits

[Ana Vračar]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Peoples Health Dispatch <health at peoplesdispatch.org>
Date: Sat, Dec 18, 2021 at 7:57 PM
Subject: Bulletin #15: Bad habits
To: <ana at phmovement.org>


This fortnight Thanks to the hard work and dedication of scientists in
South Africa, the world was alerted to the omicron variant at the end of
November. For their respect of international public health guidance and
transparency, most of southern Africa has been rewarded with travel bans by
rich countries. The same rules did not apply to high-income countries where
omicron was soon identified, shining another light on the ra

Bulletin #15: Bad habits
<https://peoples-health-dispatch.ghost.io/p/555d513f-f0de-40d4-b26e-59cd966eb437/>
By People's Health Dispatch – 18 Dec 2021 – View online →
<https://peoples-health-dispatch.ghost.io/p/555d513f-f0de-40d4-b26e-59cd966eb437/>

This fortnight

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of scientists in South Africa, the
world was alerted to the omicron variant at the end of November. For their
respect of international public health guidance and transparency, most of
southern Africa has been rewarded with travel bans
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/18/the-many-faces-of-travel-bans/> by
rich countries. The same rules did not apply to high-income countries where
omicron was soon identified, shining another light on the racism that still
pervades the approach of the Global North to the Global South.

A similar thing is true for the relationship between countries like France
and their overseas territories which are, in a very colonial manner, used
for extraction of resources while their living standards are left to
plummet. In Guadeloupe and Martinique
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/17/the-pandemic-response-in-martinique-and-guadeloupe-the-looming-shadow-of-colonialism/>,
public sector workers, including health workers, continue to protest for
better access to health, education, and water, and against the French
government’s bad habit to impose policies that do not reflect the needs of
the local population.

In the last two weeks, health workers in Georgia
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/17/nurses-protest-in-tbilisi-for-better-pay-and-working-conditions/>,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/16/health-workers-hang-up-their-lab-coats-in-protest/>,
Australia
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/14/essential-healthcare-workers-walkout-in-south-australia-demand-workplace-safety/>and
New York City
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/16/home-care-workers-protest-24-hour-work-day-in-nyc/>
have staged protests and strikes against deteriorating working conditions,
asking recognition for the work they have done before and during the
pandemic.

Even though COP26 is behind us, the inter-linkages between health and
climate remain on the top of many progressive activists’ agenda. The
organisers of the People’s Health Hearing
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/18/there-is-no-health-justice-without-climate-justice/>
on health and climate justice write about the outcome of their discussions,
while participants of the Latin American Association of Social Medicine and
Collective Health (ALAMES
<https://phmovement.org/towards-a-solidarity-based-quality-and-non-commercialized-health-system/>)
report on their hopes to rebuild a meaningful connection between people,
politics, and the environment.

Differently from them, private health providers have seen the Covid-19
pandemic as an opportunity to increase their profits. We spoke to
Shakuntala Savitra and Deepali Surendra about the role of private hospitals
during the pandemic <https://youtu.be/4ko0PIwkOY8> in the Indian state of
Maharashtra.

* The next issue of People’s Health Dispatch will be published on 6 January
2022.*
------------------------------

*The many faces of travel bans
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/18/the-many-faces-of-travel-bans/>*

After the discovery of omicron, several rich countries blocked air traffic
to southern Africa, stalling the delivery of supplies needed for the
pandemic response and showing their racist bias towards the Global South

*The pandemic response in Martinique and Guadeloupe: the looming shadow of
colonialism
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/17/the-pandemic-response-in-martinique-and-guadeloupe-the-looming-shadow-of-colonialism/>*

Trade unions in the Antille islands have been calling for independence in
creating their public health strategies and measures

*There is no health justice without climate justice
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/18/there-is-no-health-justice-without-climate-justice/>*

The organizers of the People’s Health Hearing at COP26 write about how
celebrating the ‘right to health’ as an add-on to the Glasgow Climate Pact
would be to ignore the co-option of health by perpetrators for greenwashing

*Towards a solidarity-based, quality and non-commercialized health system!
<https://phmovement.org/towards-a-solidarity-based-quality-and-non-commercialized-health-system/>*

Under the above slogan, the XVI Latin American Congress of Social Medicine
and Collective Health and the XX International Congress of Health Policies,
organized by the Latin American Association of Social Medicine and
Collective Health – ALAMES, were held in the beautiful venue of the
Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, during the
third week of November 2021
------------------------------
Short reads

*Nurses protest in Tbilisi for better pay and working conditions
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/17/nurses-protest-in-tbilisi-for-better-pay-and-working-conditions/>*

Nurses in Georgia are building resistance to harmful government policies,
and organized a protest in Tbilisi supported by trade unions

*Health workers hang up their lab coats in protest
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/16/health-workers-hang-up-their-lab-coats-in-protest/>*

Health workers in Konjic, BIH, stopped working in protest against a
prolonged financial crisis of key health institutions in the city

*Essential healthcare workers walkout in South Australia, demand workplace
safety
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/14/essential-healthcare-workers-walkout-in-south-australia-demand-workplace-safety/>*

Over a 100 workers staged a walkout in a one-day strike action on December
14, the second to hit major hospitals in South Australia this month.
Workers have complained of serious understaffing in State hospitals and
unsafe work practices

*Home care workers protest 24-hour work day in NYC
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/16/home-care-workers-protest-24-hour-work-day-in-nyc/>*

Workers rallied to demand unpaid wages from the United Jewish Council home
care agency and an end to the 24-hour workday
------------------------------

*Video: How private hospitals exploited the pandemic
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ko0PIwkOY8>*

We talk to Shakuntala Savitra and Deepali Surendra of the Jan Swasthya
Abhiyan, Maharashtra chapter and Sathi, who have conducted a survey on the
role of private hospitals during the pandemic
  <https://youtu.be/4ko0PIwkOY8>
------------------------------
In case you missed it
COVID-19: South Africa Develops Own Coronavirus Vaccine | NewsClick
South Africa is grappling with the fourth wave of the coronavirus, driven
by the omicron variant. The country is pushing for more vaccinations — and
for its own mRNA vaccine.
NewsClick•Adrian Kriesch
<https://www.newsclick.in/COVID-19-South-Africa-Develops-Own-Coronavirus-Vaccine>
COVID-19-related health care expenditure pushed over half billion people
into poverty in 2020, say WHO, World Bank : Peoples Dispatch
The numbers are still rising as governments across the world have failed to
create vibrant public health care systems and have left the poor and
vulnerable to fend for themselves
Peoples Dispatch•Peoples Dispatch
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/13/covid-19-related-health-care-expenditure-pushed-over-half-billion-people-into-poverty-in-2020-say-who-world-bank/>
KEI requests an open compulsory license relating to Paxlovid in the
Dominican Republic - Knowledge Ecology International
On Friday, December 3, 2021, KEI requested an open public interest license
to allow the exploitation of PF-07321332 (marketed in combination with
ritonavir under the brand Paxlovid) in the Dominican Republic. PF-07321332,
being developed by Pfizer, has shown promising results… Continue Reading →
Knowledge Ecology International•Luis Gil Abinader
<https://www.keionline.org/37066>
Hospitals Are Using the Nursing Shortage to Stiff Health Care Workers
Rather than materially address the underlying issues of the nursing
shortage crisis, health care providers are exploiting it in order to
further consolidate power at the top of industry hierarchies — and break
the power of organized labor below.
•Heather Rust
<https://jacobinmag.com/2021/12/nurse-shortage-labor-crisis-health-care-workers-hospital-corporations>
Not Omicron but greed of capital threatens the world : Peoples Dispatch
The deliberate policy of big pharma and rich countries to leave large
populations in poorer countries unvaccinated could plunge the world into
another downturn
Peoples Dispatch•Prabir Purkayastha
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/05/not-omicron-but-greed-of-capital-threatens-the-world/>
*People’s Health Dispatch is an initiative of Peoples Dispatch and the
People's Health Movement*
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