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.

There has been a renewed surge of the cholera outbreak in Kenya, with 146 persons affected at an international conference in June and a further 146 at the China Trade Fair in July. The current epidemic commenced on 10 October 2016 at the Tana county, but had been brought under control by the end of the first quarter of 2017.

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).

In 2016, the United Nations Secretary General convened a High-Level Summit on Large Movements of Migrants and Refugees. This came as a response to the unprecedented levels of forced displacement in war-torn areas in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, particularly in Syria, leading to millions of migrants and refugees crossing to neighbouring countries and beyond.

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.

The 70th World Health Assembly (WHA) discussed and adopted Working for Health: A Five-Year Action Plan for Health Employment and Inclusive Economic Growth (2017-21), on 29 May 2017. The document is a joint intersectoral programme of work across WHO, ILO and OECD aimed at supporting Member States in the effective implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth.

Dr Tedros Adhanom assumed office on 1 July 2017 as the 9th Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) since its inception in 1948. He has given his word that this marks a new era for the organization in its pivotal role of coordinating and directing international health policy. And the top priority of this era will be to ensure that all roads lead to universal health coverage.

Realising the right to health requires concerted efforts that put people, not profit, at the centre of policy. A better future can be guaranteed for humankind only when health for all is an undisputable reality. PSI welcomes the renewed vigour that Dr Tedros Adhanom has brought to bear in emphasising his total commitment to universal health coverage.