PHM Right to health and health care campaign proposal (summary)
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As promised here is a summary of the Proposal for a global 'Right to Health and Health Care Campaign' to be launched by the People's Health Movement.
[The full Short Version of seven pages of December 2005 can be downloaded from http://www.phmovement.org ]
We suggest the following overall strategy for PHM:
Regarding the strengthening the Right to health determinants, PHM country circles would continue to expand their involvement in these initiatives in their countries and regions. PHM may even co-initiate specific international campaigns on a particular health determinant (e.g., the Right to Water). However, it is not strategically possible for a global health movement like PHM to launch a single campaign encompassing all health determinants on a global scale.
We suggest launching a Global Right to Health and Health Care Campaign. PHM has a primary responsibility regarding this issue. However, during this campaign, the documenting of violations will not be restricted to those in the sphere of health care, but will encompass denouncing violations of health rights related to the various determinants of health.
These two types of activities should be combined as part of a comprehensive approach to the Right to Health.
A RTH Campaign has a big social mobilization potential; the HR approach is backed by international legislation; the RTH approach demands that decision-makers take responsibility; HR imply correlative duties that are universal and indivisible; and (Unlike the MDGs) the HR approach is focused on processes that lead to concrete outcomes.
As a PHM ultimate goal, we do NOT look for health policies that favour the poor. We seek significant poverty reduction policies that directly address the social determinants of the inequitable distribution of resources, as much as we seek to end the exiting violations to the RTH. The Campaign gives us the possibility of advancing PHM's political agenda that strives for equity and for the structural changes that will do away with the social, economic and political determinants of health.
Suggested focus of the Campaign
PHM will document violations, which can help push for changes in the key wider determinants of health; they will also denounce and act upon adverse existing and new policies that are having negative impacts on the Right to Health (such as the privatisation of services, the weakening of universal access systems, vertical programmes that fragment health systems, the current 90/10 gap in research funding, the unjust international trade regimes --to name just but a few).
Suggested process to launch the Campaign
I. Preparatory phase (early to mid 2006)
1. Creation of a broad consensus on the Campaign idea. Formation of a 'Core Campaign Steering Group' of about 6-8 organizations who are willing to help coordinate the Campaign globally. This team will actively support a host of regional organizers and will lead the international networking work, plus the fund-raising and advocacy work for the Campaign. To support this team, a global campaign secretariat (of about three to four .persons) will need to be formed to coordinate the campaign.
2. Identification of specific (existing PHM or newly associated) groups that will take regional responsibilities. If possible, at least one consultation within each region to discuss the campaign will have to be held.
3. Identification of short and long-term sources of funding.
4. Ensure local campaign ownership and active involvement throughout the process. A mechanism for regular consultation with allies will be set up.
5. Completion of guidelines for the preparation of status papers on 'The State of the Right to Health' in each country (early 2006).
6. Contribution to the next (2007) edition of the Global Health Watch.
II. Documentation and analysis phase (the last three quarters of 2006).
During this period, country, regional and global reports will be prepared as follows:
1. Country papers or reports on the Status of the Right to Health Care will be completed in the countries of at least two regions; in the other regions, the process will be started and brought to as an advanced stage as possible. Options are as follows:
a.. Full blown Country Reports: These will be the most extensive and will analyse all or most aspects of the health care system in the country and report on their current status with facts and figures, documenting why and how General Comment 14 has (not) been fulfilled five years after its adoption (within the framework of a 'progressive realization of the right to health').
b.. Country Status Papers: These will be less detailed and may not cover all components of the health sector, but will be based on country level information and statistics that bring out major health care system gaps.
c.. Country Overviews: These will only contain a listing of major issues of concern from the Right to Health perspective (e.g., declining health budgets, unregulated privatization, imposition of user fees, dismantling of the social security system).
The aim is that about 40-50 countries will prepare these country reports or status papers -aiming at a minimum of 5 in each region.
III. Regional Assemblies and subsequent action phase (after the World Health Assembly of May 2007)
Plans are as follows:
1. Sequential Regional assemblies on the Right to Health will be held in all regions of the world: one assembly in each of the seven or eight regions, spaced about 2 months apart. These would be called by PHM, with involvement of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health and WHO, and will be attended by national health officials, national human rights committees and PHM, as well as other health and human rights activists. Available country reports/country performance report cards on the Right to Health will be presented and discussed. These assemblies will attract wide media coverage. Action plans to implement the Right to Health will be drawn, discussed and presented in the second half of the assemblies.
2. This series of regional assemblies may culminate in some kind of a resolution being proposed for adoption at, say, the World Health Assembly in Geneva in 2008. Such a resolution will call for the time-bound implementation of the Right to Health. This will include demanding governments progressively incorporate RTH principles and standards into their national laws. Further, the resolution will put in place mechanisms for monitoring and redressal of this right in all countries of the world. PHM partner organizations will also use this as a concrete opportunity to draw-in many more organizations into the network, to dialogue with their country governments, and to engage with national NGOs and human rights bodies.
3. Finalisation of the Global Health Watch report on the Right to Health is envisioned for April 2007. The same could include summaries of all the regional analysis papers and a one-page standardized abstract of the available country Right to Health reports.
4. Preparation of a 'Global Action Plan on the Right to Health Care'. Such a document will convincingly show how quality essential health care services could be made available NOW to every human being on earth, provided certain key reallocation of priorities and resources are enacted. This Global assessment will be accompanied by practical recommendations for the countries in each region; the latter will form the basis of a Concrete Agenda to achieve the goals set out in the People's Charter for Health.
5. The 2008 World Health Assembly will be asked to adopt a 'Declaration on the Right to Health for All' for implementation by member countries, The same will have time-bound, specific and monitorable goals and contain the basic principles of a bottom-up health sector reform. The aim will be to sponsor effective community involvement and monitoring in health thus operationalizing the Right to Health. A shift in policies of all the international agencies working in the health sector will be demanded so that they progressively move towards a human rights-based approach to health planning.
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Claudio Schuftan
mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn