Health and Social care services

“What do we want? Healthcare. When do we want it? Now!” These and other chants of protesters echoed off the white marble-clad U.S. Capitol during a recent protest led by Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

On 2 August, Grygorii Osovyi, President of the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) and Viktoriia Koval, President of the Health Workers’ Union of Ukraine (HWUU), her deputy Iryna Shvets, and FPU staff members met Tristan Masat, AFL-CIO Solidarity Center Country Program Director to discuss the current state of the healthcare system in Ukraine.

On 20 July 2017, nurses from the southern Indian State of Kerala achieved an inspiring victory resulting in a substantial increase in wages. This was after a month long struggle, during which they stood resolute against all efforts by the private hospitals industry to break their will.

The health workers’ union, SOLSICO, organized a public discussion forum on health in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). More than 150 participants from government, health unions, employers, international organisations and civil society discussed three themes: the health system in the DRC and its challenges, the right to health, and the determinants of health.

The PSI Ebola Response Strategy, focusing on argumentation, networking and lobby work, is almost coming to an end, and the participating unions are still as active as ever. In Liberia, where the PSI affiliates set up a wide collaboration between trade unions and civil society organisations, the Project Management Committee (PMC) with representatives of NAHWAL, NTUPAW, CTIL, CSA and HRM organised two workshops to boost the expertise and means of action of the broad network.

The 21st session of the Health Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was held on 26-27 June 2017 at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris. Baba Aye, the PSI Health and Social Services Officer and Cyrille Duch, International Secretary of the French CFDT Health affiliate of PSI represented the trade union movement at the meeting, on the platform of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC).

Lena Vennberg from Vårdförbundet, Sweden was the first person from a PSI affiliate to participate in the annual WHA Watch organised for young health professionals, academics and activists by the People’s Health Movement held in May in Geneva. In an increasingly globalised world, this is an invaluable dimension of capacity-building for young health workers. It is also part of the PSI strategy of building closer collaboration with the civil society movement.