PHM-Exch> Fwd: Bulletin #17: Health workers want a fair post-pandemic world

Fri Jan 21 15:50:13 PST 2022

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Peoples Health Dispatch <health at peoplesdispatch.org>
Date: Sat, Jan 22, 2022 at 12:49 AM
Subject: Bulletin #17: Health workers want a fair post-pandemic world
To: <ana at phmovement.org>

This fortnight While the number of omicron-related cases continues to
increase, health workers are taking action for better working conditions.
Their strikes and protests are a result of years of unresolved issues,
which, in the middle of the pandemic, became even more pressing. In
Barbados , nurses are calling for better staffing in health institutions.
Security guards at the Great Ormond

Bulletin #17: Health workers want a fair post-pandemic world
<https://peoples-health-dispatch.ghost.io/bulletin-17/>
By People's Health Dispatch – 21 Jan 2022 – View online →
<https://peoples-health-dispatch.ghost.io/bulletin-17/>

This fortnight

While the number of omicron-related cases continues to increase, health
workers are taking action for better working conditions. Their strikes and
protests are a result of years of unresolved issues, which, in the middle
of the pandemic, became even more pressing.

In Barbados
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/21/nurses-in-barbados-want-to-fight-brain-drain-and-understaffing/>,
nurses are calling for better staffing in health institutions. Security
guards at the Great Ormond Street Hospital
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/20/outsourced-hospital-guards-campaign-for-pay-equality-at-london-hospital/>
in London took industrial action to demand a level of rights equal to their
in-house National Health System peers. In Australia
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/14/australian-trade-unions-demand-free-covid-testing-for-all-as-cases-surge/>,
trade unions took action to demand free testing to be included in the
national pandemic response.

Accessibility to Covid-19 products and technologies remains as pressing an
issue as months ago. Big corporations continue to do everything in their
power to stop mechanisms that would curb their profit, and make vaccines,
tests, and drugs
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/15/make-who-recommended-new-covid-19-drugs-accessible-affordable-demands-msf/>
more accessible.

The same corporations enjoy an unusual amount of power in international
fora like the UN and the WHO, where a framework of multi-stakeholderism has
prevailed over the original multilateral approach. In a new report by
the People’s
Working Group on Multistakeholderism
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/21/corporate-takeover-of-multilateralism-deals-more-blows-to-right-to-health/>,
a group of progressive organizations looks into how the corporate capture
of multilateralism is impacting human rights.

A particularly precarious situation is found in conflict-ridden countries
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/21/health-crises-in-fragile-states-need-urgent-attention/>,
where an approach based on aid and humanitarian response forced by rich
countries is undermining the possibility of building stronger local health
systems.

In a new video interview
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/21/are-covid-19-cases-plateauing-in-major-indian-cities/>,
Dr Satyajit Rath looks into the Corbevax vaccine, its potential for
enabling more people to get vaccinated, and the current Covid-19 situation
in India.

*Data Speaks* compares inequities in income, wealth, and contributions to
carbon emissions, as two reports on inequality by the World Inequality Lab
<https://wir2022.wid.world/> and Oxfam
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/17/rising-inequality-a-form-of-economic-violence-by-governments-says-oxfam-report/>
remind us of the growing gap between the world’s richest and poorest.
------------------------------

*Health crises in fragile states need urgent attention
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/21/health-crises-in-fragile-states-need-urgent-attention/>*

While the world remains focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, a pandemic of
conflict continues to undermine the health of billions of people around the
globe

*Corporate takeover of multilateralism deals more blows to right to health
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/21/corporate-takeover-of-multilateralism-deals-more-blows-to-right-to-health/>*

The People’s Working Group on Multistakeholderism published new report on
corporate takeover of multilateral institutions, reducing people’s chances
of safeguarding essential human rights

*Nurses in Barbados want to fight brain drain and understaffing
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/21/nurses-in-barbados-want-to-fight-brain-drain-and-understaffing/>*

The island has been forced to rely on foreign recruitment for nursing jobs,
as eroding working conditions drive many abroad to richer countries
------------------------------
Short reads

*Outsourced hospital guards campaign for pay equality at London hospital
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/20/outsourced-hospital-guards-campaign-for-pay-equality-at-london-hospital/>*

Outsourced security guards at the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in
London have been demanding rights, pay and other benefits on par with the
in-house National Health Service (NHS) workers

*Australian trade unions demand free COVID testing for all as cases surge
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/14/australian-trade-unions-demand-free-covid-testing-for-all-as-cases-surge/>*

Australia has added around a million new cases in the past two weeks,
making it one of the biggest Omicron-driven surges in the world. Meanwhile,
the Scott Morrison government is relaxing quarantine norms for close
contact workers, a step that has been roundly criticized by unions
------------------------------

*Video: Are COVID-19 cases plateauing in major Indian cities?
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/21/are-covid-19-cases-plateauing-in-major-indian-cities/>*

Immunologist Dr. Satyajit Rath and NewsClick’s Prabir Purkayastha review
the COVID-19 situation in India, and also talk about the possibilities of
the Corbevax vaccine
  <https://youtu.be/gTUAEjbjhVM>
------------------------------
Data speaks
------------------------------
In case you missed it
17-21 January 2022: Beyond the agenda of the WHO Executive Board. Series of
civil society workshops and public briefings and debates hosted by G2H2,
G2H2
<https://g2h2.org/posts/january2022/>
Eastern Cape community health workers protest about job cuts
Union wants national government to “prevent a catastrophic health crisis in
the Eastern Cape”
GroundUp News•Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik
<https://www.groundup.org.za/article/thousands-eastern-cape-community-health-workers-face-unemployment-march/>
Inequality kills | Oxfam International
Oxfam International•Authors: Nabil Ahmed, Anna Marriott, Nafkote Dabi,
Megan Lowthers, Max Lawson, Leah Mugehera
<https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/inequality-kills>
Make WHO-recommended new COVID-19 drugs accessible, affordable, demands MSF
: Peoples Dispatch
US pharma giant Eli Lilly has the patent for Baricitinib, which will affect
its availability and accessibility. MSF has called on governments to take
immediate steps to ensure that patent monopolies do not stand in the way of
access to this drug
Peoples Dispatch•Richa Chintan
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/15/make-who-recommended-new-covid-19-drugs-accessible-affordable-demands-msf/>
Home care workers in Spain call for better wages and end of subcontracting
: Peoples Dispatch
The committee of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) in Andalusia has
demanded recognition and adequate pay for home care workers and an end to
privatization and subcontracting of services
Peoples Dispatch•Peoples Dispatch
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/11/home-care-workers-in-spain-call-for-better-wages-and-end-of-subcontracting/>
Cuba shows an alternative to Big Pharma hegemony through global solidarity
: Peoples Dispatch
Cuba puts people before profits – showing the world an alternative to
monopoly profits. It promotes a public health system, state-funded research
and shows global solidarity through tech transfer and vaccine delivery to
developing countries
Peoples Dispatch•Richa Chintan
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/10/cuba-shows-an-alternative-to-big-pharma-hegemony-through-global-solidarity/>
Our Health, Their Profit? - RLS Geneva
Case studies on union busting by healthcare corporations and trade union
resistance The outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic has dramatically
placed the issue of health right in the very centre of our attention. The
vulnerability of our own health, as well as the health of people in at-risk
g…
RLS Geneva
<https://rosalux-geneva.org/our-health-their-profit-2/>
*People’s Health Dispatch is an initiative of Peoples Dispatch and the
People's Health Movement*
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