Health

Nursing in South Africa has made remarkable strides as a profession since the dawn of democracy. “As a backbone of the healthcare system of South Africa, nurse professionals are compelled to play an active role and actively partake in the refurbishment of the country’s healthcare system”, says Nurse Manager and President of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA), Dorothy Matebeni.

The trade and investment deal being negotiated between Canada and the European Union puts public health care services at risk of privatization, according to analysis from the Canadian Labour Congress.

In Santiago in Chile the citizens are invited to give their opinion on public health.

It is workers, not employers, who overwhelmingly bear the costs of workplace injuries and diseases, a new report has shown. The report by Safe Work Australia revealed that three-quarters of the costs of workplace injuries and diseases is borne by the injured workers themselves, including loss of current and future income and non-compensated medical expenses.

Health staff and patients will rally in London on 7th March to say no to the government's Health and Social Care bill and to tell the UK government that the NHS is not for sale.

Further to the recent case in Italy, there has been another victory for asbestos victims: Uralita, a Spanish asbestos company has been found guilty for not protecting workers in Getafe (Madrid) from asbestos exposure and condemned to pay out 1.7 million euros.

A court in Turin has sentenced Stephan Schmidheiny and Jean Louis de Cartier to 16 years in the Eternit asbestos trial. The defendants were found guilty of environmental disaster and wilful omission of safety precautions.

The FORUM & FEDERATION Symposia Series draws attention to the health of workers globally. In every part of the world, the vast majority of adults work, whether formally or informally, in the workplace or in the home. Daily work for income and family support is one of the most important shared experiences of adults worldwide.

Several hundred letters of protest were sent to the government of Ecuador protesting at the arbitrary dismissals of thousands of public sector workers, and the plans to dismiss thousands more. Combined with other actions by PSI, the campaign generated a useful response from the government.