The rise of neoliberalism: how bad economics imperils health and what to do about it

The 2008 global financial crisis, precipitated by high-risk, under-regulated financial practices, is often seen as a singular event. The crisis, its recessionary consequences, bank bailouts and the adoption of ‘austerity’ measures can be seen as a continuation of a 40-year uncontrolled experiment in neoliberal economics. Although public spending and recapitalisation of failing banks helped prevent a 1930s-style Great Depression, the deep austerity measures that followed have stifled a meaningful recovery for the majority of populations. In the short term, these austerity measures, especially cuts to health and social protection systems, pose major health risks in those countries under its sway. Meanwhile structural changes to the global labour market, increasing under-employment in high-income countries and economic insecurity elsewhere, are likely to widen health inequities in the longer term. We call for four policy reforms to reverse rising inequalities and their harms to public health. First is re-regulating global finance. Second is ...

Advocacy: the silence of Europe’s public health associations is deafening

National public health associations (PHAs) have a key role to play in advocating for effective, evidence-based policies (in both the public and private spheres) and practices that have positive impacts on population health and health equity. In some instances, PHAs are the only civil society voice for public health.

Campaigning to improve obstetric care in Poland

The Childbirth with Dignity Foundation was established to advocate for improved obstetric care through uniting the voices of thousands of women and bringing evidence to light on key issues. Advocacy efforts ultimately led the Ministry of Health to establish obstetric care standards; systematically collecting and documenting patient experiences served as an important advocacy tool and engaging with the target population helped build public support; leveraging a highly-visible public media platform lent sufficient credibility to information conveyed and gained needed attention for action; all stakeholders were engaged to effect change from both the bottom-up and top-down.

Introducing palliative care in Serbia

The Ministry of Health established the Palliative Care Task Force and adopted the National Strategy for Palliative Care to guide the development of palliative care across Serbia; partnerships with international organizations, local NGOs and supportive government actors helped secure buy-in at the national level; developing a legislative and political base was essential for creating a foundation on which to build the initiative; securing EU funding provided additional resources to support activities; incorporating a new palliative care philosophy within professional culture required extensive training, communication, advocacy and time; formalizing educational opportunities through university partnerships helped to ensure sustainability.

16th World Congress on Public Health 2020, Public health for the future of humanity: analysis, advocacy and action

The global public health community will be meeting at a critical time for our planet. Global temperatures lie far beyond historical records and there are real fears that we are reaching a tipping point. Threats to food and water supply, poverty and inequalities are leading to mass migration and conflict.

The theme of the World Congress, Public Health for the Future of Humanity: Analysis, Advocacy, and Action, reflects the commitment that the global public health community must make visible the threats to health, and must challenge and hold to account those with the power to make a difference.

Read more about the plenary programme of the World Congress on Public Health here.

Seventy-third World Health Assembly (WHA73)

The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO. It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board.

This year, the 73rd World Health Assembly is held virtually in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

A reduced (de minimis) meeting was held on 18-19 May 2020.

The resumed WHA73 will take place from 9-14 November 2020.

You will be able follow proceedings on WHO webcast.

All documents can be found on the main documents page for the WHA73.

State of Commitment to Universal Health Coverage

The State of commitment to universal health coverage (UHC) provides a multi-stakeholder consolidated view on the state of progress being made towards UHC at country and global levels.

The review is political, country-focused and action-oriented in nature and complements the more technical and global UHC monitoring report focusing on UHC indicators on service coverage and financial protection.

The State of UHC Commitment  follows the UHC Political Declaration’s Key Targets, Commitments and Follow-up Actions and support national accountability and advocacy processes to ensure political leaders are held accountable for their UHC commitments.

The synthesis report summarises the state of UHC commitment at both the country and global level. In 2020, the report focuses on how the world has coped to date with the extraordinary challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It shares short stories from people’s lived experiences, demonstrating the reality of UHC on the ground.

Read more 

State ...

Health For All Advocacy Toolkit

The Health for All Advocacy Toolkit provides national-level civil society organizations (CSOs) and health networks with the necessary resources to kick-start advocacy initiatives on universal health coverage (UHC). It offers advocates a central reference point—a ‘one-stop shop’ for key information and tools to advocate for UHC, hold policy-makers accountable for their commitments, and build a broad social movement within civil society to support health for all.

The Health for All Advocacy Toolkit has been developed to build capacity, inspire and mobilize civil society in support of the global movement for UHC. It is based on the understanding that health is a human right, and our combined efforts are needed to ensure that the UHC conversation spans before, within, and beyond health system walls to reflect the realities of people and communities.

This toolkit introduces primary UHC concepts and describes some of the many roles civil society plays—not only ...