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<div class="gmail_quote">From: <b class="gmail_sendername"></b><span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:unnikru@yahoo.com">unnikru@yahoo.com</a>></span><br>and: <a href="mailto:secretariat@phmovement.org">secretariat@phmovement.org</a>, <br>
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<p style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none"><span lang="EN" style="FONT-SIZE: 6.5pt; COLOR: #111111; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><a title="Home" href="http://www.phmovement.org/cms/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="COLOR: #2763a5; TEXT-DECORATION: none"></span></a></span></p>
</div></div>For immediate circulation:</div>
<div style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Press Release: Geneva , 18 May, 2009 </span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span> </span><span> </span></span> </div>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><b><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“Declare Global economic downturn a health emergency!”</span></i></b>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span></b>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“Economic Recession is a threat to the world’s health”</span></b>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span></b>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The People’s Health Movement urges the World Health Organization and member governments to <b>“declare the economic recession currently gripping the globe as a health emergency”. </b></span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Health activists gathered here in Geneva for the World Health Assembly (18-22 May) are expected to lobby the UN health body and governments to declare global downturn a health emergency. </span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">People’s Health Movement (PHM) is a global coalition of grass root health workers, health professionals, human rights, peace and social activists. <span> </span></span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“Recession is hitting the poor people hard and their health and survival”</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> said a PHM spokesperson. </span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“While it is too early to make a rigorous assessment, recession’s potential impact on health is much greater than that of <i>‘Swine flu’</i>, through impacts on poverty and social spending”.</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“The current paradigm of ‘development’ has aggravated poverty and ill-health for the poor, especially in the global south”,</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> said Prof. David Sanders, a public health expert from South Africa . <b>“The current financial crisis will worsen this”</b>, he said. </span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“Donors need to place health needs of poor people at the centre of their response strategies” </span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">said Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury from Bangladesh . Dr. Chowdhury, a leading advocate for affordable health care for poor people from Bangladesh , urged donors to do a ’reality check’ and shred what he alleged was their ‘imperial attitude’.</span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">PHM warns that the financial crisis is likely to result in greater dependence of southern countries on donor assistance. </span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Previous precedents indicate that the effects of the global crisis will be quickly felt by the poor, across the globe. Focussing on a few priority diseases will further amplify the health challenges for the poor people.</span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Consider the facts:</span></b>
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<li style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">50 million workers may lose jobs if the economic crisis worsens, warns the International Labour Organization. </span></li>
<li style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The UN and all its agencies and funds spend about $20 billion each year or about $3 for each person in the world. In contrast, Global military expenditure in 2007 was US $ 1339 billion or about US $202 for each person in the world.</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></span></li>
<li style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Over 1 billion people across the globe go hungry every day. One in five people in developing countries is chronically undernourished </span></li>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span>
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<li style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes - one child every five seconds. </span></li></ul>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt 18pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span>
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<li style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The crisis undermines human rights. UN Human Rights Council expressed “grave concern” that the crises threatens to undermine the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals including the Millennium Development Goals.</span></li>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“The loss of livelihoods, impending cutbacks in welfare spending and intensified food crisis for the world’s poor is going to result in a significant increase in avoidable deaths around the world”</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> said Dr. Amit Sengupta, a leading health analyst from India . In India , 80 percent of expenditure on healthcare is through out-of-pocket payments.</span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Loss of jobs or income could leave a vast majority of these unable to pay for their treatment. </span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“It is time to shift gears. The current situation demonstrates the need for a new world health order and a new approach to development”,</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> said David Woodward, a development economist from the United Kingdom . It is essential that poor people are put at the centre of this new order, he said. Typically those in poor, developing countries are likely to suffer the most. </span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The PHM demands immediate measures</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> by the international community and individual governments: </span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span>a)<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">To ensure adequate resources made available to revitalise public health systems. Pay urgent attention to the needs of the poor rather than the revival of failed big commercial banks. </span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span>b)<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">To allocate funds for the restoration of jobs and livelihood opportunities in low income communities. </span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span>c)<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">To strengthen social welfare programs in developing countries and for homeless and unemployed people in developed countries, and not to use the economic crisis downturn as an excuse to cut funds of welfare related programmes.</span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Bridget Lloyd, Global co-ordinator: People’s Health Movement.</span></b>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><b><span lang="IT" style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">For media enquiries: E-mail: </span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a href="http://uk.mc506.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=secretariat@phmovement.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span lang="IT">secretariat@phmovement.org</span></a></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> <span lang="IT">/<span> </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a href="http://uk.mc506.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=media@phmovement.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span lang="IT">media@phmovement.org</span></a></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> <b><span> </span><span lang="IT">Mobile :</span></b><span lang="IT"> +41 76 753 2979</span></span></p>
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