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‘Heal the Planet!’
Second People’s Health Assembly in Cuenca, Ecuador
Health activists call for movement to ‘Heal the Planet!’ Geneva, 18
May 2005:
The launch of an alternative world health report and the beginning of a global
campaign for health as a fundamental human right will form the highlights of
the second People’s Health Assembly in Cuenca, Ecuador from 17-22 July
2005. Four years after its historic inauguration in Savar, Bangladesh thousands
of activists from the around the world who form the People’s Health Movement
will meet again to take stock of their experiences and chart out a course for
the future. “We are calling on all organizations and all peoples to join
this worldwide movement to find ways to heal our planet” said Dr Arturo
Quizphe, Coordinator, PHA-2. The planet he said was dying from growing conflict,
increasing ecological destruction and spreading poverty and disease.
The Assembly will be the culmination of a process of local and national reflection,
sharing, discussion and debate about the various factors that influence the
health and well being of everyone. At the Assembly campaigns and groups of people
will discuss ways to achieve the goals of equity, ecologically sustainable development
and peace, which are at the heart of the PHM’s vision of a better world.
Several thousand delegates from around 80 countries are expected to participate
in the five-day meeting. The Assembly will also be the site for the launch of
an important new initiative called the Global Health Watch, an alternative world
health report that articulates civil society's vision for global health.
The Global Health Watch Report, 2005 (www.ghwatch.org)
to be launched on 20 July in Cuenca and other parts of the world, will consist
of a compilation of chapters on various global health issues written by NGOs
and academics from different regions of the world. The Report monitors global
businesses, multi-lateral institutions and powerful donor governments that drive
global health policy. At the first People’s Health Assembly, 2000 in Bangladesh
over 1453 participants from 75 countries came together to create and endorse
a consensus document called the People's Charter for Health. The charter, which
reflects the vision of the PHM, is most widely endorsed consensus document on
health since the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978.
For further information contact:
Satya Sivaraman: satyasagar@yahoo.com
People's Health Movement Secretariat (Global)
People's Health Movement Secretariat (Global)
Email: secretariat@phmovement.org
Web: www.phmovement.org
Ph: + 91-80 - 51280009
Fax: + 91-80 - 25525372
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