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News clippings in Spanish

Health for all now: From bottom up
The world is sick, not just of medically diagnosed diseases but also of the growing tactlessness in addressing inequality by established agencies, notably of the UN system.  But the growing paradigm is not to supplant these agencies but set up alternative institutions that operate to strengthen them to achieve their goals.  The Peoples Health Movement is right on this tract...more>>

Ghanaian Chronicle, August 08, 2005

‘We’d open ambulance door to sniper fire’

At the second international People’s Health Assembly, which began here yesterday, Iraqi and Palestinian delegations are counting war’s casualties off the field. Before delegates from 83 world nations, Iraqi medic Salam Taha Ismail recounts the shock of heavy calibre bullets from the US sniper tearing through his ambulance top two years ago. He and his nurse had jumped into the ambulance and rushed to a Fallujah street after someone informed their field hospital that a car was hit by a missile. ..more>>

Indian Express, 20 July 2005

Iraq doctor tells of health crimes

Delegates to the People’s Health Movement assembly in Cuenca (18-23 July) also heard of alleged crimes against health in Iraq.

Iraqi physician Dr Salam Ismael claimed in a passionate testimony that "Crimes against health have been committed for two years in my country, and no one knows about them." Speaking on behalf of the organisation Doctors for Iraq, he described a number of alleged violations to human rights since occupation.

The organisation of 250 doctors was founded in 2003 to do research, give humanitarian relief, and promote the right to health. It has catalogued a number of human rights violations, including bombing hospitals, military raids on hospitals, killing patients who may be i

nsurgents in their hospital beds and blocking ambulance transport of wounded combatants during the siege of Falluja. ..more>>

IPS 21 July 2005

People's Assembly Demands 'Health for All Now!'

More than 1,200 people from 77 countries are taking part in the second People's Health Assembly, which is demanding "Health for All Now!" and discussing alternatives for making health care universally available.

The Jul. 17-23 gathering in this Ecuadorian city is pushing for recognition of health as a fundamental human right, while calling for a full stop to "corporate abuse of health."

The scheduled activities include the international launch of the first Global Health Watch Report (GHW), dubbed the Alternative World Health Report, and the Global Children's Forum, in which 500 boys and girls will take part.

According to the organisers, the Children's Forum, part of the Festival of Hope and Alegremia, "is a chance for children to discuss, analyse and defend issues crucial to their health, happiness and well-being. It is an opportunity to celebrate diversity and hope."

"Medicine means illness. But life in community and the sense of belonging to a culture and to nature are health," said Dr. Julio Monsalvo, who will take part in several workshops in this week's Assembly. ...more>>

IPS 21 July 2005

Sick of Globalisation

Alternative reports on global health, presented at the second People's Health Assembly in Ecuador this week, question the free-market, neoliberal economic model and view it as the cause of many of the health problems facing humanity today.

These include the indiscriminate use of toxic products in agriculture, pollution caused by the oil industry, the consumption of transgenic crops, the destruction of the urban environment by pollution, and the commercialisation of health services.

The reports by the Global Health Watch and the Observatorio Latinoamericano de Salud see a healthy life as a fundamental human right, the enjoyment of which depends on economic, political and social factors.

The Global Health Watch is a broad collaboration of public health experts, non-governmental organisations, civil society activists, community groups, health workers and academics. ..more>>

IPS 21 July 2005

Global university course launched on health advocacy
A new global university, the International People's Health University, marked its official launch last week by running a five day course for health activists on primary health care and the political economy of health. The course was run at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Cuenca, Equador, immediately before the People's Health Assembly.  The course was attended by 61 people, from 25 different countries, with a strong representation from Latin America and other low and medium income countries. Most of those attending were doctors already involved in or committed to developing skills in health advocacy to augment their work as public health physicians, specialists in primary care, or within non-governmental organisations. ..more>>

bmj.com. 30 July 2005

Global right to health campaign launched

The People’s Health Movement, an international organisation of health activists, launched a new global campaign on the right to health at its 2nd assembly in Cuenca, Ecuador, held from 18 to 23 July.

"The campaign in its first cycle will focus on the right to health care," said Abhay Shukla, co-convenor of the People’s Health Movement in India. Dr Shukla works with a highly visible campaign for the right to health care in his own country that has documented hundreds of cases of denial of access, often resulting in serious health and financial consequences. The campaign has organised several local "people’s health tribunals" and regional public hearings, with the support of the National Human Rights Commission of India. ..more>>

bmj.com. 30 July 2005

Iraq doctor tells of health crimes

Delegates to the People's Health Movement assembly in Cuenca (18-23 July) also heard of alleged crimes against health in Iraq.  Iraqi physician Dr Salam Ismael claimed in a passionate testimony that "Crimes against health have been committed for two years in my country, and no one knows about them." Speaking on behalf of the organisation Doctors for Iraq, he described a number of alleged violations to human rights since occupation.  The organisation of 250 doctors was founded in 2003 to do research, give humanitarian relief, and promote the right to health. It has catalogued a number of human rights violations, including bombing hospitals, military raids on hospitals, killing patients who may be insurgents in their hospital beds and blocking ambulance transport of wounded combatants during the siege of Falluja...more>> 

bmj.com. 30 July 2005

“A turning point in the history of the health movement” say health activists and academicians

“The struggle for ‘Health for All’ received a boost here today. International People’s Health University (IPHU) was launched in a simple ceremony attended by people from over 35 countries. ....more>>

IIndymedia, Ecuador, 11 July 2005

Assembly meets to tackle the health needs of the poor

"The assembly in Cuenca will continue the debate within the People’s Health Movement on how to narrow the vast and growing health and wealth divide between rich and poor countries. It will reinforce the call to take radical action to counteract the underlying economic, social, political, and environmental drivers of the divide. It is also set to discuss the tone and outcome of last week’s G8 summit and the impact of the Make Poverty History campaign...." ....more>>

bmj.com 30 July 2005

Death stalks the Poor in apathetic PHCs

Earlier this month, Delhi saw an outbreak of meningitis that caused a scare, with dozens of victims hospitalised. The electronic media quickly latched on to the event as news, but once something else came up as ‘newsworthy’, the deplorable state of health and sanitation even in the national capital quickly got shelved as an issue..............more>>

Deccan Herald, Bangalore, 31July 2005

News clippings in Spanish