PHM Africa Learning Space

Le cercle de PHM de Djibouti a organisé dimanche dernier une rencontre entres des jeunes filles de Djibouti ville et d’Arta qui ont débattu des risques de contamination du VIH/Sida, des infections sexuellement transmissibles et des grossesses non désirées au chef lieu de la plus jeune des régions de l’intérieur. Le cercle de PHM de djibouti a dimanche dernier eu la bonne idée d’emmener des jeunes filles, issues respectivement des quartiers populaires 5, 6,7 de la capitale au chef lieu de la région d’Arta. Celles-ci y ont rencontré des congénères de leur classe d’âge parmi la gent féminine d’Arta. Les unes et les autres ont pu soulever des sujets sensibles sous les regards bienveillants et protecteurs des facilitatrices du cercle phm dans un local d’une association féminine de la petite ville d’Arta. De leurs discussions, il ressort que de nombreuses femmes subissent de multiples situations de violence au quotidien. Ce phénomène accentue la fragilité des jeunes filles et femmes d...

November blog by Claudio Schuftan This is a bit belated report from the Rio World Conference on the Social Determinants of Health. The conference was convened by the World Health Organization together with the government of Brazil, to whom many thanks, for their enabling many colleagues from the People’s Health Movement to attend. The conference was billed as the way to advance the cause of Closing The Gap in a Generation (1), the report of the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. Cynics had a feeling that it would be nothing of the kind, and once again, the facts supported cynicism, I am sorry to say. Preparations for the conference turned out to be a case study of what is now amounting to a kind of ‘war of the words’. This is being fought between all those in the UN system and member states who believe in public health and public goods, and those who remai...

Pre Assembly mobilisation will allow for more people to be able to participate in the process of the Assembly, as not everybody will be present at the actual event. The process of pre assembly mobilisation contributes to making the PHA3 a people’s driven assembly where people’s voices are the base for discussions and decisions at the Assembly. Pre Assembly activities are not only about preparing for the PHA3, it is also about building a stronger health movement in your countries and globally, about building and strengthening grassroots activism and impacting directly on the struggle for social justice. Read more Pre Assembly actvities and PHA3 on the link above

PHM East Africa sub-regional committee held a meeting in October 2011 and agreed to a coordinated launch of the Global Health Watch 3 in East African countries and to see how the countries can link local and country activities to some of the global issues. Tentatively plans are to have the launch March 2012 and are calling on other African country circles to join in so as to have an Africa-wide launch. The Global Health Watch,an Alternative World Health Report is a collaborative effort by activists and academics from across the world. Designed to question present policies on health and to propose alternatives. Previous editions published in 2005 and 2008. The Global Health Watch 3 co-ordinated by five civil society organisations – the Peoples Health Movement, Medact, Health Action International, Medico International and Third World Network Various pre-PHA3 activities are also being planned at country level. Contact details for the group: Leonce Byimana leonceby@gmail.com (Rwanda) an...

By Claudio Human Rights Reader 277 AS WE ALL WELL KNOW, ETHICS IS ONE OF THE ROOTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS. WHAT DO PHILOSOPHERS HAVE HAD TO SAY? Historically, it is actually the organized pressure from minorities and from women on ethical grounds that have often given us the equal rights and the non-discrimination we now take for granted. [I here attempt to bring-in the history of philosophy on ethics to support the concept and practice of human rights. I do not want to philosophize with you here, but to help you to consult your own moral inclinations by interpreting what you read below]. Here is a sample of the subtitles of this Reader: Good moral rules help us act in the most rational way possible. Human Rights are about respect for living in society and about the promotion of the public good. Morality is not just obedience though; it is doing what is right. We sometimes think that we are moral, just because we believe in moral principles. But believing is not enough; ...

The PHA3 will take place from 6 – 11 JULY 2012! Venue: University of the Western Cape – South Africa. We look forward welcoming you all to celebrate our years of activism, to re-asses and re-inspire our movement and to set an agenda for the future. In less than one year, the Third People’s Health Assembly (PHA3) will be taking place in South Africa so it is time to start preparations! Around the world PHM health activists have initiated dialogues and started mobilisation towards PHA3. Regular updates on the mobilisation and preparation will be published in a regular newsletter. For more information on the programme structure, please visit our website. www.phmovement.org or the PHA3 Facebook page

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Leslie London Date: Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 7:22 AM Subject: [ETiHHR-net-l] Fwd: [ESCR-Right-to-Health] Call for submissions on child’s right to health >>> rajat khosla 2011/11/29 06:39 PM >>> CRC General Comment on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health (art. 24) http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/callsubmissionsCRC.htm Re: Call for submissions on child’s right to health The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) contains legally binding obligations in relation to the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health (art. 24). By virtue of its mandate, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the CRC Committee) has decided to elaborate a General Comment on the right to health of children under eighteen. The CRC Committee elaborates its General ...