Developing commentaries ahead of the EB156

PHM is preparing to participate in the WHO Executive Board meeting (EB156) by drafting comments on the agenda items listed for discussion. EB156 will be held in Geneva  from Monday, February 3 to Tuesday, February 11. You can be part of this process by logging into our WHO-Tracker page https://who-track.phmovement.org/eb156. The agenda items on which we plan to develop PHM commentaries are listed below. Links from each item on the Tracker page point to the official documents (most of which are now published) and to our PHM Comment pages on Google Drive.

6. Universal health coverage and primary health care
7. NCDs including diabetes, oral health, mental health action plan, and cervical cancer
8. Mental health and social connection
9. Communicable diseases (leptospirosis, skin diseases, meningitis)
10. Substandard and falsified medical products
11. Medical devices nomenclature
12 Health and care workforce (including Global Code of Practice on International Recruitment)
13. Traditional medicine
14. Women's, children’s and adolescents’ health
15. WHO’s work in emergencies
16. The war in Ukraine
17. Palestine
18. The Universal Health and Preparedness Review
19. Polio
20. Chemicals, waste and pollution
21. Air pollution
22. Climate change
23. WHO funding and budget
24. Governance of WHO, including
    - Strategies and action plans scheduled to expire shortly (nursing and midwifery, digital health, dementia, maternal infant and young child nutrition
    - The role of non-state actors in WHO governance

Ways in which you could help:
Select one or more agenda items where you have expertise/interest (please let us know that you are working on whichever items). Read the official documents prepared by the Secretariat on that (or those) items. Prepare some notes regarding the technical aspects of the Secretariat paper and commenting, from a political point of view, on where this item is coming from or going to. Then share your comments with David and Sundar who will be putting together the integrated commentaries.

Identify comrades in your network and approach them to consider working on one or more items and sharing their analyses with us. Please deal directly with any comrades whom you think should be approached but let us know whom you are approaching (perhaps through a copy of your email).

Please note that our commentaries are focused on the specific analyses and directions being proposed in the official documents. We are not looking for comprehensive generalities or polemics.

Urgency
We aim to circulate our PHM comments on Monday 27 January at the latest; this is one week before the start of the EB meeting. We need your comments on your selected items by Tuesday 21 Jan at the latest. We apologise for these tight timelines which are a consequence of the lateness of the official publication of the papers (and some are still not published).

Using the Tracker search function
If you can look at one or more items, please familiarise yourself with the Items Search function in the Tracker through which you can generate reports on previous considerations by WHO governing bodies of each item. This is often quite critical for understanding where the item is coming from and headed to.

See also a brief video by Lauren on Using the Tracker: https://youtu.be/JkN76W2N-vc?si=-mFRyac8SZtwRxXU 

Why do we think that developing Item Commentaries is strategic for PHM?

Policy dialogue is one strategy for progressing social movement goals. Policy dialogue articulates the structural failures underlying our concerns and proposes appropriate reforms. Policy advocacy gives direction to popular mobilisation.

Engaging with policy debate at the international level brings into focus the impact of globalisation and the increasing influence of global forces, on health care, population health, and health equity, within and between countries.

Engaging in policy dialogue at the global level is not an exclusive alternative to action at the local and national levels but approaching policy dialogue at the local and national levels with an awareness of the global influences which reproduce local needs greatly strengthens our engagement.

WHO is under great pressure. It faces high expectations (particularly from LMICs) but is shackled by a long-standing budget freeze and having budget control vested in the hands of rich donor states and philanthropies. In these circumstances stronger support from civil society organizations could make a big difference, promoting transparency and strengthening the accountability of both the Secretariat and the member states.
Audiences

The people who are reading our commentaries include:
·         diplomats from L&MICs; our commentaries are particularly useful to diplomats from smaller and less well resourced L&MICs who are sometimes required to confront the whole agenda on a one person basis;
·         activists in various social and political movements who are focused on particular issues and reform demands; PHM’s commentaries present a view of global health in the context of the broader political economy of health;
    activists within PHM (including WHO Watchers); gaining fresh insights into how the institutional structures of global health are embedded in the wider political economy of capitalist globalisation, and who are deepening their skills in policy analysis and advocacy.

Give some thought to WHO post-Trump
Trump has threatened to pull out of WHO. This will have a big impact on the WHO budget and change the political dynamics within the governing bodies. In analysing the official documents, please give some thought to the implications of the US withdrawal.  

Thanks for reading to the end!
We are looking forward to your support.
In solidarity,
David and Sundar