PHM-Exch> [PHM NEWS] A People's Charter for Health refresher

[Carmen Baez]

Genial. La memoria histórica es tan importante!!!!!!. En la reunión del SC
no se habló de EAPS , Alma Ata , de donde venimos ...lógicamente lo hice yo
cuando me toco facilitar una sesion. Y  como me metieron de prepo en el
COCO voy a seguir machacando. Me di cuenta un detalle, la mayoria de los
nuevos activistas son de variadas profesiones, antropologos, abogados,
politologos, antropologos, alguno como se dece ahora son "public health" y
no hay gente que trabajó en la trinchera de salud, solo los viejos Alexis,
Hani, CHiara, Roman, Hugo , yo. Este fenomeno esta bien , siempre dijimos
que no queremos ser hegemonizados por la clase medica, pero corremos el
riesgo de no tener jovenes medicos de APS que entiendan la politica local,
reg y global,   Que te parece a ti?.
Por mi parte seguiré insistiendo, como tu , en leer nuestro documento de
referencia y relacionarlo al dia de hoy...tal vez hacer un conversatorio
sobre ese ejercicio....
No me quiero meter en tanto lío como dice el Papa, porque tengo 3 ROMs este
año para sobrevivir y ahorrar para la jubilación.
Traduzco esto y lo difundo,

Abrazo,

C.



*Carmen Mercedes BáezMail: carmenbaez5 at gmail.com <carmenbaez5 at gmail.com>*

*Cel/wsp: +54 9 11 63786497Skype: carmen.m.baez*


*"Mucha gente pequeña en lugares pequeños puede cambiar el mundo"*

*                                     Eduardo Galeano*




El lun, 2 may 2022 a las 4:06, Claudio Schuftan (<cschuftan at phmovement.org>)
escribió:

> Dear all,
> Believe it or not, our Charter is 22+ years old.
> Most of us have probably not reread it for a long time and newer members
> may have never read it in detail.
> It is only 8 pages long and can be read in 15-20 minutes.
> More than for memories' sake we invite you to re-read it to reinvigorate
> our commitments and to show how seminal a document it is since it still
> applies today. Take the time to read it!
> Note that the Charter is available in 33 languages. You can go to
> https://phmovement.org/the-peoples-charter-for-health/ and read it in
> your own language. (Also, as you have it in your own language, disseminate
> it to like-minded people and groups and invite them to endorse it on our
> PHM website ).
>
> People’s Charter for Health
>
>
>
> INTRODUCTION
>
> In 1978, at the Alma‐Ata Conference, ministers from 134
>
> member countries in association with WHO and UNICEF
>
> declared “Health for All by the Year 2000” selecting Primary
>
> Health Care as the best tool to achieve it.
>
> Unfortunately, that dream never came true. The health status
>
> of third world populations has not improved. In many cases it
>
> has deteriorated further. Currently we are facing a global health
>
> crisis, characterized by growing inequalities within and between
>
> countries. New threats to health are continually emerging . This
>
> is compounded by negative forces of globalization which
>
> prevent the equitable distribution of resources with regard to
>
> the health of people and especially that of the poor.
>
> Within the health sector, failure to implement the principles of
>
> primary health care, as originally conceived in Alma‐Ata has
>
> significantly aggravated the global health crisis.
>
> Governments and the international bodies are fully responsible
>
> for this failure.
>
> It has now become essential to build up a concerted
>
> international effort to put the goals of health for all to its
>
> rightful place on the development agenda. Genuine, people-centered
>
> initiatives must therefore be strengthened in order to
>
> increase pressure on decision‐ makers, governments and the
>
> private sector to ensure that the vision of Alma‐ Ata becomes a
>
> reality.
>
> Several international organizations and civil society
>
> movements, NGOs and women’s groups decided to work
>
> together towards this objective. This group together with
>
> others committed to the principles of primary health care and
>
> people’s perspectives organized the “People’s Health Assembly”
>
> which took place form 4‐8 December 2000 in Bangladesh, at
>
> Savar, on the campus of the Gonoshasthasthaya Kendra or GK
>
> (People’s Health Centre).
>
> 1453 participants form 92 countries came to the Assembly
>
> which was the culmination of eighteen months of preparatory
>
> action around the globe. The preparatory process elicited
>
> unprecedented enthusiasm and participation of a broad cross
>
> section of people who have been involved in thousands of
>
> village meetings, district level workshops and national
>
> gatherings.
>
> 1
>
> The plenary sessions at the Assembly covered five main
>
> themes: Health, Life and Well‐Being; Inequality, Poverty and
>
> Health; Health Care and Health Services; Environment and
>
> Survival; and The Ways Forward. People from all over the world
>
> presented testimonies of deprivation and service failure as well
>
> as those of successful people’s initiatives and organization. Over
>
> a hundred concurrent sessions made it possible for participants
>
> to share and discuss in greater detail different aspects of the
>
> major themes and give voice to their specific experiences and
>
> concerns. The five days event gave participants the space to
>
> express themselves in their own idiom. They put forward the
>
> failures of their respective governments and international
>
> organizations and decided to fight together so that health and
>
> equitable development become top priorities in the policy
>
> makers agendas at the local, national and international levels.
>
> Having reviewed their problems and difficulties and shared their
>
> experiences, they have formulated and finally endorsed the
>
> People’s Charter for Health. The charter from now on will be the
>
> common tool of a worldwide citizens’ movement committed to
>
> make the Alma‐ Ata dream reality.
>
> We encourage and invite everyone who shares our concerns and
>
> aims to join us by endorsing the charter.
>
>
>
> PREAMBLE
>
> Health is a social, economic and political issue and above all a
>
> fundamental human right. Inequality, poverty, exploitation,
>
> violence and injustice are at the root of ill‐health and the deaths
>
> of poor and marginalised people. Health for all means that
>
> powerful interests have to be challenged, that globalisation has
>
> to be opposed, and that political and economic priorities have
>
> to be drastically changed. This Charter builds on perspectives of
>
> people whose voices have rarely been heard before, if at all. It
>
> encourages people to develop their own solutions and to hold
>
> accountable local authorities, national governments,
>
> international organisations and corporations.
>
>
>
> VISION
>
> Equity, ecologically‐sustainable development and peace are at
>
> the heart of our vision of a better world ‐ a world in which a
>
> healthy life for all is a reality; a world that respects, appreciates
>
> and celebrates all life and diversity; a world that enables the 2º
>
> flowering of people's talents and abilities to enrich each other; a
>
> world in which people's voices guide the decisions that shape
>
> our lives. There are more than enough resources to achieve this
>
> vision.
>
>
> THE HEALTH CRISIS
>
> “Illness and death every day anger us. Not because there are
>
> people who get sick or because there are people who die. We are
>
> angry because many illnesses and deaths have their roots in the
>
> economic and social policies that are imposed on us”
>
> (A voice from Central America)
>
> In recent decades, economic changes world‐wide have
>
> profoundly affected people’s health and their access to health
>
> care and other social services.
>
> Despite unprecedented levels of wealth in the world, poverty
>
> and hunger are increasing. The gap between rich and poor
>
> nations has widened, as have inequalities within countries,
>
> between social classes, between men and women and between
>
> young and old.
>
> A large proportion of the world’s population still lacks access to
>
> food, education, safe drinking water, sanitation, shelter, land
>
> and its resources, employment and health care services.
>
> Discrimination continues to prevail. It affects both the
>
> occurrence of disease and access to health care.
>
> The planet’s natural resources are being depleted at an
>
> alarming rate. The resulting degradation of the environment
>
> threatens everyone’s health, especially the health of the poor.
>
> There has been an upsurge of new conflicts while weapons of
>
> mass destruction still pose a grave threat.
>
> The world’s resources are increasingly concentrated in the
>
> hands of a few who strive to maximise their private profit.
>
> Neoliberal political and economic policies are made by a small
>
> group of powerful governments, and by international
>
> institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary
>
> Fund and the World Trade Organisation. These policies,
>
> together with the unregulated activities of transnational
>
> corporations, have had severe effects on the lives and
>
> livelihoods, health and well‐being of people in both North and
>
> South.
>
> Public services are not fulfilling people's needs, not least
>
> because they have deteriorated as a result of cuts in
>
> governments’ social budgets. Health services have become less
>
> accessible, more unevenly distributed and more inappropriate.
>
> Privatisation threatens to undermine access to health care still
>
> further and to compromise the essential principle of equity. The
>
> persistence of preventable ill health, the resurgence of diseases
>
> such as tuberculosis and malaria, and the emergence and
>
> spread of new diseases such as HIV/AIDS are a stark reminder of
>
> our world's lack of commitment to principles of equity and
>
> justice.
>
>
>
> PRINCIPLES OF THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER FOR
>
> HEALTH
>
> • The attainment of the highest possible level of health and
>
> well‐being is a fundamental human right, regardless of a
>
> person's colour, ethnic background, religion, gender, age,
>
> abilities, sexual orientation or class.
>
> • The principles of universal, comprehensive Primary Health
>
> Care (PHC), envisioned in the 1978 Alma Ata Declaration,
>
> should be the basis for formulating policies related to
>
> health. Now more than ever an equitable, participatory
>
> and intersectoral approach to health and health care is
>
> needed.
>
> • Governments have a fundamental responsibility to ensure
>
> universal access to quality health care, education and
>
> other social services according to people’s needs, not
>
> according to their ability to pay.
>
> • The participation of people and people's organisations is
>
> essential to the formulation, implementation and
>
> evaluation of all health and social policies and
>
> programmes.
>
> • Health is primarily determined by the political, economic,
>
> social and physical environment and should, along with
>
> equity and sustainable development, be a top priority in
>
> local, national and international policy‐making.
>
>
> A CALL FOR ACTION
>
> To combat the global health crisis, we need to take action at all
>
> levels ‐ individual, community, national, regional and global ‐
>
> and in all sectors. The demands presented below provide a basis
>
> for action.
>
>
> HEALTH AS A HUMAN RIGHT
>
> Health is a reflection of a society’s commitment to
>
> equity and justice. Health and human rights should prevail over
>
> economic and political concerns.
>
> This Charter calls on people of the world to:
>
> • Support all attempts to implement the right to health.
>
> • Demand that governments and international
>
> organisations reformulate, implement and enforce policies
>
> and practices which respect the right to health.
>
> • Build broad‐based popular movements to pressure
>
> governments to incorporate health and human rights into
>
> national constitutions and legislation.
>
> • Fight the exploitation of people’s health needs for
>
> purposes of profit.
>
>
>
> TACKLING THE BROADER DETERMINANTS OF
>
> HEALTH
>
> Economic challenges:
>
> The economy has a profound influence on people’s health.
>
> Economic policies that prioritise equity, health and social
>
> well‐being can improve the health of the people as well as the
>
> economy.
>
> Political, financial, agricultural and industrial policies which
>
> respond primarily to capitalist needs, imposed by national
>
> governments and international organisations, alienate people
>
> from their lives and livelihoods. The processes of economic
>
> globalisation and liberalisation have increased inequalities
>
> between and within nations. Many countries of the world and
>
> especially the most powerful ones are using their resources,
>
> including economic sanctions and military interventions, to
>
> consolidate and expand their positions, with devastating effects
>
> on people’s lives.
>
> ٢
>
> This Charter calls on people of the world to:
>
> • Demand transformation of the World Trade Organisation
>
> and the global trading system so that it ceases to violate
>
> social, environmental, economic and health rights of
>
> people and begins to discriminate positively in favour of
>
> countries of the South. In order to protect public health,
>
> such transformation must include intellectual property
>
> regimes such as patents and the Trade Related aspects of
>
> Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement.
>
> • Demand the cancellation of Third World debt.
>
> • Demand radical transformation of the World Bank and
>
> International Monetary Fund so that these institutions
>
> reflect and actively promote the rights and interests of
>
> developing countries.
>
> • Demand effective regulation to ensure that TNCs do not
>
> have negative effects on people's health, exploit their
>
> workforce, degrade the environment or impinge on
>
> national sovereignty.
>
> • Ensure that governments implement agricultural policies
>
> attuned to people's needs and not to the demands of the
>
> market, thereby guaranteeing food security and equitable
>
> access to food.
>
> • Demand that national governments act to protect public
>
> health rights in intellectual property laws.
>
> • Demand the control and taxation of speculative
>
> international capital flows.
>
> • Insist that all economic policies be subject to health,
>
> equity, gender and environmental impact assessments
>
> and include enforceable regulatory measures to ensure
>
> compliance.
>
> • Challenge growth‐centred economic theories and replace
>
> them with alternatives that create humane and
>
> sustainable societies. Economic theories should recognise
>
> environmental constraints, the fundamental importance
>
> of equity and health, and the contribution of unpaid
>
> labour, especially the unrecognised work of women.
>
> Social and political challenges
>
> Comprehensive social policies have positive effects on people’s
>
> lives and livelihoods. Economic globalisation and privatisation
>
> have profoundly disrupted communities, families and cultures.
>
> Women are essential to sustaining the social fabric of societies
>
> everywhere, yet their basic needs are often ignored or denied,
>
> and their rights and persons violated.
>
> Public institutions have been undermined and weakened. Many
>
> of their responsibilities have been transferred to the private
>
> sector, particularly corporations, or to other national and
>
> international institutions, which are rarely accountable to the
>
> people. Furthermore, the power of political parties and trade
>
> unions has been severely curtailed, while conservative and
>
> fundamentalist forces are on the rise. Participatory democracy
>
> in political organisations and civic structures should thrive.
>
> There is an urgent need to foster and ensure transparency and
>
> accountability.
>
> This Charter calls on people of the world to:
>
> • Demand and support the development and
>
> implementation of comprehensive social policies with full
>
> participation of people.
>
> • Ensure that all women and all men have equal rights to
>
> work, livelihoods, to freedom of expression, to political
>
> participation, to exercise religious choice, to education
>
> and to freedom from violence.
>
> • Pressure governments to introduce and enforce legislation
>
> to protect and promote the physical, mental and spiritual
>
> health and human rights of marginalised groups.
>
> • Demand that education and health are placed at the top of
>
> the political agenda. This calls for free and compulsory
>
> quality education for all children and adults, particularly
>
> girl children and women, and for quality early childhood
>
> education and care.
>
> • Demand that the activities of public institutions, such as
>
> child care services, food distribution systems, and housing
>
> provisions, benefit the health of individuals and
>
> communities.
>
> • Condemn and seek the reversal of any policies, which
>
> result in the forced displacement of people from their
>
> lands, homes or jobs.
>
> • Oppose fundamentalist forces that threaten the rights and
>
> liberties of individuals, particularly the lives of women,
>
> children and minorities.
>
> • Oppose sex tourism and the global traffic of women and
>
> children. 7º
>
> ٢
>
> Environmental challenges:
>
> Water and air pollution, rapid climate change, ozone layer
>
> depletion, nuclear energy and waste, toxic chemicals and
>
> pesticides, loss of biodiversity, deforestation and soil erosion
>
> have far‐reaching effects on people’s health. The root causes of
>
> this destruction includes the unsustainable exploitation of
>
> natural resources, the absence of a long‐term holistic vision, the
>
> spread of individualistic and profit‐maximising behaviours, and
>
> over‐consumption by the rich. This destruction must be
>
> confronted and reversed immediately and effectively.
>
> This Charter calls on people of the world to:
>
> • Hold transnational and national corporations, public
>
> institutions and the military accountable for their
>
> destructive and hazardous activities that impact on the
>
> environment and people's health.
>
> • Demand that all development projects be evaluated
>
> against health and environmental criteria and that caution
>
> and restraint be applied whenever technologies or policies
>
> pose potential threats to health and the environment (the
>
> precautionary principle).
>
> • Demand that governments rapidly commit themselves to
>
> reductions of greenhouse gases from their own territories
>
> far stricter than those set out in the international climate
>
> change agreement, without resorting to hazardous or
>
> inappropriate technologies and practices.
>
> • Oppose the shifting of hazardous industries and toxic and
>
> radioactive waste to poorer countries and marginalised
>
> communities and encourage solutions that minimise
>
> waste production.
>
> • Reduce over‐consumption and non‐sustainable lifestyles ‐
>
> both in the North and the South. Pressure wealthy
>
> industrialised countries to reduce their consumption and
>
> pollution by 90 per cent.
>
> • Demand measures to ensure occupational health and
>
> safety, including worker‐centred monitoring of working
>
> conditions.
>
> • Demand measures to prevent accidents and injuries in the
>
> workplace, the community and in homes.
>
> • Reject patents on life and oppose bio‐piracy of traditional
>
> and indigenous knowledge and resources.8º
>
> • Develop people‐centred, community‐based indicators of
>
> environmental and social progress, and to press for the
>
> development and adoption of regular audits that measure
>
> environmental degradation and the health status of the
>
> population.
>
> War, violence, conflict and natural disasters:
>
> War, violence, conflict and natural disasters devastate
>
> communities and destroy human dignity. They have a severe
>
> impact on the physical and mental health of their members,
>
> especially women and children. Increased arms procurement
>
> and an aggressive and corrupt international arms trade
>
> undermine social, political and economic stability and the
>
> allocation of resources to the social sector.
>
> This Charter calls on people of the world to:
>
> • Support campaigns and movements for peace and
>
> disarmament.
>
> • Support campaigns against aggression, and the research,
>
> production, testing and use of weapons of mass
>
> destruction and other arms, including all types of
>
> landmines.
>
> • Support people's initiatives to achieve a just and lasting
>
> peace, especially in countries with experiences of civil war
>
> and genocide.
>
> • Condemn the use of child soldiers, and the abuse and
>
> rape, torture and killing of women and children.
>
> • Demand the end of occupation as one of the most
>
> destructive tools to human dignity.
>
> • Oppose the militarisation of humanitarian relief
>
> interventions.
>
> • Demand the radical transformation of the UN Security
>
> Council so that it functions democratically.
>
> • Demand that the United Nations and individual states end
>
> all kinds of sanctions used as an instrument of aggression
>
> which can damage the health of civilian populations.
>
> • Encourage independent, people‐based initiatives to
>
> declare neighbourhoods, communities and cities areas of
>
> peace and zones free of weapons.
>
> • Support actions and campaigns for the prevention and
>
> reduction of aggressive and violent behaviour, especially
>
> in men, and the fostering of peaceful coexistence.
>
> • Support actions and campaigns for the prevention of
>
> natural disasters and the reduction of subsequent human
>
> suffering.
>
>
>
> A PEOPLE‐CENTERED HEALTH SECTOR
>
> This Charter calls for the provision of universal and
>
> comprehensive primary health care, irrespective of people’s
>
> ability to pay. Health services must be democratic and
>
> accountable with sufficient resources to achieve this.
>
> This Charter calls on people of the world to:
>
> • Oppose international and national policies that privatise
>
> health care and turn it into a commodity.
>
> • Demand that governments promote, finance and provide
>
> comprehensive Primary Health Care as the most effective
>
> way of addressing health problems and organising public
>
> health services so as to ensure free and universal access.
>
> • Pressure governments to adopt, implement and enforce
>
> national health and drugs policies.
>
> • Demand that governments oppose the privatisation of
>
> public health services and ensure effective regulation of
>
> the private medical sector, including charitable and NGO
>
> medical services.
>
> • Demand a radical transformation of the World Health
>
> Organization (WHO) so that it responds to health
>
> challenges in a manner which benefits the poor, avoids
>
> vertical approaches, ensures intersectoral work, involves
>
> people's organisations in the World Health Assembly, and
>
> ensures independence from corporate interests.
>
> • Promote, support and engage in actions that encourage
>
> people’s power and control in decision‐making in health at
>
> all levels, including patient and consumer rights.
>
> • Support, recognise and promote traditional and holistic
>
> healing systems and practitioners and their integration
>
> into Primary Health Care.
>
> • Demand changes in the training of health personnel so
>
> that they become more problem‐oriented and practice10º
>
> based, understand better the impact of global issues in
>
> their communities, and are encouraged to work with and
>
> respect the community and its diversities.
>
> • Demystify medical and health technologies (including
>
> medicines) and demand that they be subordinated to the
>
> health needs of the people.
>
> • Demand that research in health, including genetic
>
> research and the development of medicines and
>
> reproductive technologies, is carried out in a participatory,
>
> needs‐based manner by accountable institutions. It should
>
> be people‐ and public health‐oriented, respecting
>
> universal ethical principles.
>
> • Support people’s rights to reproductive and sexual self-determination
>
> and oppose all coercive measures in
>
> population and family planning policies. This support
>
> includes the right to the full range of safe and effective
>
> methods of fertility regulation.
>
>
>
> PEOPLE'S PARTICIPATION FOR A HEALTHY WORLD
>
> Strong people’s organisations and movements are fundamental
>
> to more democratic, transparent and accountable decision-making
>
> processes. It is essential that people’s civil, political,
>
> economic, social and cultural rights are ensured. While
>
> governments have the primary responsibility for promoting a
>
> more equitable approach to health and human rights, a wide
>
> range of civil society groups and movements, and the media
>
> have an important role to play in ensuring people's power and
>
> control in policy development and in the monitoring of its
>
> implementation.
>
> This Charter calls on people of the world to:
>
> • Build and strengthen people’s organisations to create a
>
> basis for analysis and action.
>
> • Promote, support and engage in actions that encourage
>
> people’s involvement in decision‐making in public services
>
> at all levels.
>
> • Demand that people’s organisations be represented in
>
> local, national and international fora that are relevant to
>
> health.
>
> • Support local initiatives towards participatory democracy
>
> through the establishment of people‐centred solidarity
>
> networks across the world.
>
>
>
> AMENDMENT
>
> After the endorsement of the PCH on December 8, 2000, it was
>
> called to the attention of the drafting group that action points
>
> number 1 and 2 under Economic Challenges could be
>
> interpreted as supporting the social clause proposed by the
>
> WTO, which actually serves to strengthen the WTO and its
>
> neoliberal agenda. Given that this countervails the PHA
>
> demands for change of the WTO and the global trading system,
>
> the two paragraphs were merged and amended.
>
> The section of War, Violence and Conflict has been amended to
>
> include natural disasters. A new action point, number 5 in this
>
> version, was added to demand the end of occupation.
>
> Furthermore, action point number 7, now number 8, was
>
> amended to read to end all kinds of sanctions. An additional
>
> action point number 11 was added concerning natural disasters.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> PHM-Exchange People's Health Movement
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