In preparation of People's Health Assembly II - part 1
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Dear friends,
In preparation of the People's Health Assembly II in Cuenca, Ec-
uador, July, 2005, in the coming days, I will post a series of
eight very short pieces that will make all of us think about the
type of issues we should not miss reviewing in preparing the as-
sembly and during the assembly itself. The pieces are all taken
from an article Dr Ravi Narayan and I are publishing shortly as
a chapter of a book on perspectives on global development.
Do keep these pieces and refer to them often as we get closer to
the assembly.
Contributions of every one of you on these issues will be wel-
come for all of us to share and to enrich the preparatory proc-
ess.
Claudio Schuftan
mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn
--
The People's Health Movement:
A People's Campaign for HEALTH FOR ALL - NOW!
ABSTRACT
The People's Health Assembly later renamed the People's Health
Movement has been a worldwide civil society effort to counter
the ill-effects of Globalization on Health and Health Care. The
Assembly, through an interactive dialogue came up with the Peo-
ple's Charter for Health as a tool for advocacy and a call for
more needed radical action. Consisting of a wide range of action
initiatives, the People's Charter --now translated into over
forty languages-- is helping to promote a host of activities: a
movement that promotes geographical circles of health profes-
sionals and activists, organizing street level rallies, policy
debates and dialogue, public education, advocacy with WHO and
other international health players, and health campaigns --all
focused on the Health for All - Now goal.
Background
In 1978, in Alma - Ata, the universal slogan Health for All by
the year 2000 was coined. At the same time, the famous Alma Ata
Declaration was overwhelmingly approved, putting people and com-
munities at the center of health planning and health care
strategies, as well as emphasizing the role of community par-
ticipation, appropriate technology and inter-sectoral coordina-
tion. The Declaration was endorsed by most of the governments of
the world and symbolized a significant paradigm shift in the
global understanding of Health and Health Care. (WHO - UNICEF,
1978).
Twenty five years later,
- after much policy rhetoric,
- some concerted but mostly ad-hoc action,
- quite a bit of misplaced euphoria,
- distortions brought about by the growing role of the market
economy as it has affected health care, and
- a fair dose of governmental and international health agencies'
amnesia,
this Declaration remains unfulfilled and mostly forgotten, as
the world comes to terms with the new economic forces of global-
ization, liberalization and privatization which have made
'Health for All' a receding dream.
The People's Health Assembly in Savar, Bangladesh, in December
2000, and the People's Health Movement that evolved from it are
both a civil society effort to counter this global laissez faire
and to challenge health policy makers around the world with a
Peoples Health Campaign for Health for All-Now!
(to be continued)