<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_quote"> From: <a href="mailto:gpbaldew@gmail.com">gpbaldew@gmail.com</a> <br><br><p>Today across <a class="" title="India" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=28.6133333333,77.2083333333&spn=10.0,10.0&q=28.6133333333,77.2083333333%20%28India%29&t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">India</a>, people continue to suffer and die unnecessarily due<br>
to poor access to affordable and effective health care and due to a range<br>
of social and economic determinants that promote ill-<a class="" title="Disease" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">health and disease</a>.<br>
Approximately 1.83 million children under five years of age die each<br>
year in India. This is the highest number anywhere in the world.One-third<br>
of all malnourished children live in India.</p>
<p>The cost of health care is a leading cause of poverty. National Sample<br>
Survey Organisation’s (NSSO) recent morbidity, healthcare survey,<br>
estimates that around 63.22 million individuals or 11.88 million<br>
households were pushed to BPL due to healthcare expenditure.<br>
Paradoxically, all these are happening at a time when India has the<br>
resources, knowledge and skills to usher in real change.</p>
<p>Given this context, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (PHM INdia) proposes below a set of clear policy proposals. We would like to request all political parties to commit themselves to these proposals, and if elected to power, to deliver upon them. We are confident that these measures would be found to be<br>
extremely popular among ordinary people, and parties which publicly<br>
commit themselves to carrying out these measures would enjoy<br>
widespread public support.</p>
<p><strong>Manifesto to promote health and healthcare (excerpts)<br></strong></p>
<p>The right to health is a fundamental and universal right of all citizens and<br>
this will need to be respected and realized within a time frame. The Right<br>
to Health needs also to be located in the underlying determinants of<br>
health such as access to safe water and sanitation, adequate food and<br>
nutrition, housing, and secure livelihoods. Above all social inequities –<br>
based ondisparities along gender, caste, class and other lines – have a<br>
profound impact on the health of the poorest and the most marginalized.</p>
<p>At the same time the right to comprehensive quality health care services<br>
is an important part of the Right to Health. To ensure the fulfillment of<br>
this right, the public health system needs to be much better resourced,<br>
expanded and made accountable so that it can provide free and health<br>
care services that are comprehensive, of good quality and accessible to<br>
all. The proliferation of an increasingly commercializedand exploitative<br>
private medical sector is a major cause for concern and urgent measures<br>
are required to reverse this trend and strictly regulate the cost, quality and<br>
ethical norms of services that the private sector provides.</p>
<p>The following concrete proposals are designed to reverse the present –<br>
entirely unacceptable — situation in the health sector, and to secure<br>
conditions of living and health care services that promote health in all its<br>
dimensions.</p>
<p><strong>1. Act on the <a class="" title="Social determinants of health" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_determinants_of_health" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Social Determinants of Health</a>:</strong> </p>
<p><strong>2. Address the Gender dimensions of Health</strong>: <br></p><p>3.<strong>Immediately reverse <a class="" title="Caste" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Caste Based Discrimination</a></strong>: <br>
</p><p>4. <strong>Enact a Right to Health Act</strong> which assures universal access to good quality and comprehensive health care for all. <br></p><p>5. <strong>Increase Public Expenditure on Health to 3.6% of <a class="" title="Gross domestic product" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">GDP</a> annually</strong> <br>
</p><p><strong>6. Ensure quality and assured availability of health care:</strong> <br></p><strong>7.Stop both Active and Passive Privatization of health care services:</strong><br><br>8.<strong> Training of Health workforce:</strong> <br>
<br>9.<strong>Well Governed, Adequate <a class="" title="Public health" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_health" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Public Health</a> Workforce:</strong><br><br>10. <strong>Secure access to quality assured essential medicines and diagnostic services in all public health facilities</strong>,<strong> free of charge</strong>. <br>
<br>11.<strong> Participatory Planning, Community Participation and Community Based Monitoring of health</strong>.<br><br>12. <strong>Eliminate Corruption in the Public Health System</strong> <br><br>13. <strong>Reverse Exploitation by private hospitalsand protect ethical private non commercial private providers:</strong><br>
<p>
14. <strong>Absorb, over a period, existing publicly funded health insurance schemes</strong> <br></p>15. <strong>Eliminate the role of multi-lateral and bilateral financing agencie</strong>s from all areas of technical assistance<br>
<br>16.<strong> Build National and State level capacity for Health research and development:</strong> <br><br>17. <strong>Ensure access to essential and safe Drugs & Devices</strong>:<br><br>18. <strong>Regulation of clinical trials and ethic</strong>s in biomedical research: <br>
and<br><br>19. <strong>Ensure access to treatment and care of persons with mental illness <br></strong><br>Find the full manifesto at<br><a href="http://www.kractivist.org/india-health-manifesto-to-all-political-parties-by-jsa/">http://www.kractivist.org/india-health-manifesto-to-all-political-parties-by-jsa/</a> <br>
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