PHM Africa Learning Space

From: David Legge Follow and participate in the 64th World Health Assembly on the WHO Watch portal. The WHA Watch Portal is now open for business (http://www.ghwatch.org/who-watch/WHA64). The Agenda of the World Health Assembly is demystified with links to official papers and to more critical commentary. Over the next three weeks additional commentary will appear, reports of discussion at the WHA and a lively open comment space will operate. Keep up to the minute on Twitter. Follow @WHOWatch and receive notifications of updates on the WHA Watch website and other events in Geneva. WHO Watch is also cooperating with the World Open Health Assembly during the WHA presented by iMAXi (http://imaxi.org/content/coming-soon-world-open-health-assembly-2011). WHO Watch is a project of the Democratising Global Health Governance Coalition, a group of civil society organisations and networks committed to the urgent reform of the forces and structures which shape global decision making a...

By Claudio Dr Ravi Narayan of the Centre for Public Health and Equity, Bangalore is a dear friend and colleague. Beginning in 2003, he was the second global secretary of the People’s Health Movement (PHM) which, during his years in the post, started to monitor the activities of the World Health Organization and other relevant UN agencies. (For the PHM’s comments on the appointment of Ann Veneman as executive director of UNICEF, marshalled by Ravi when he was PHM’s global secretary, see the lead news story on the Association’s website this month). A central criticism of WHO has been that, for many years, it abandoned its commitment to the primary health care approach in a number of areas, including nutrition. PHM’s People’s Charter for Health calls on ‘people of the world to demand a radical transformation of the World Health Organization, so that it responds to health challenges in a manner which benefits the poor, avoids vertical approaches, ensures intersectoral work, involves pe...

By Claudio Schuftan Halfdan Mahler is a cherished friend, and a member of the People’s Health Movement. He was the Director-General of the World Health Organization for 15 years, from 1973 to 1988. He is now 87 years old. During his period of office, WHO co-sponsored the 1978 Alma Ata conference, where the bold goal of ‘Health for All by the Year 2000’ was proclaimed. How sad, that some 30-plus years later, this expansive vision of health, founded on the principles of primary health care and social change, has been replaced by the miserly and narrow-minded Millennium Development Goals (1). In May 2008, Dr. Mahler addressed the WHO sixty-first World Health Assembly. He called again for an integrated approach to health, and what he said was followed by a standing ovation from the delegates of all member states present. Two statements he made were for me outstanding. The first was: EQUITY ...

BY Claudio Schuftan San Jose, California. Since I am back in the Americas for holidays, I start this month by quoting some views of the prominent Uruguayan journalist and essayist Eduardo Galeano, written some 40 years ago, but still salient today. Yes, it is not me, but him pictured above. He is well known among many of us for his always sharp-as-a-whistle incisive social commentary. Reviewing his reflections prompted me to ask myself what our role as ‘nutritionists-helping to-shape-society’ ought to be. In rather strong terms, I here argue for what our obligations should be, beyond liberalism: I call for a greater engagement in political action as the true test of our values as nutrition professionals. GLOBALISATION IT’S THE RICH THAT GET THE GRAVY, IT’S THE POOR THAT GET THE BLAME. AIN’T IT ALL A BLEEDING SHAME As you may know, I am originally from Chile, and I am indebted to my fellow Latin American Eduardo Galeano and his book The Open Veins of Latin America, for the ...