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<H6 style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">The People’s Health
Assembly<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></H6>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">The Global People’s Health Assembly brought together 1450
people from 92 countries, and resulted in an unusual five-day event in which
grassroots people shared their concerns about the unfulfilled ‘Health for All’
challenge.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The Assembly’s programme
included a variety of interactive dialogue opportunities for all health
professionals and activists who gathered for this significant event. These fora
included:<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Wingdings 3'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">a<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">a rally for Health for All - Now!;
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Wingdings 3'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">a<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">meetings in which the testimonies on the health situation
from many parts of the world and the struggles of people were shared and
commented upon by multidisciplinary resource groups; (People’s Health Movement
2002)<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Wingdings 3'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">a<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">parallel workshops to discuss a range of health and
health-related challenges; <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Wingdings 3'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">a<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">cultural programmes to symbolize the multi-cultural and
multiethnic diversity of the people of the world; <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Wingdings 3'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">a<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">exhibitions and video/film shows;
and<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Wingdings 3'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">a<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">an abundance of dialogue, in small and big groups, using
formal and informal opportunities.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">The
People’s Health Assembly was preceded by a long series of pre-assembly events
all over the world. The most exceptional of these was the mobilization in India.
For nearly nine months preceding the Assembly, there were grassroots, local and
regional initiatives of people’s health enquiries and audits; sensitization
including health songs and popular theater; sub-districts and district level
seminars; policy dialogues and translations of national consensus documents on
health into regional languages, as well as campaigns to challenge medical
professionals and the health system to become more Health-for-All-oriented.
Finally, over 2000 delegates traveled to Kolkata (Calcutta), mostly riding on
five converging people’s health trains; here, they<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>brought their ideas and felt needs first
elaborated in 17state and 250 district conventions. In Kolkata, after two days
of conferences, parallel workshops, exhibitions, two public rallies for health
and a myriad of cultural programmes, the Assembly endorsed the <B>Indian
People’s Health Charter</B>. About 300 delegates from this Assembly then
traveled to Bangladesh, mostly by bus, to attend the Global Assembly. Similar
preparatory initiatives, though less intense, took place in Bangladesh, Nepal,
Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Philippines, Japan and other parts of the world, including
Latin America, Europe, Africa and Australia. </SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>