Welcome to this workspace for the People's Health Movement in Australia.
PHM is a global network of health activists: community members, healthcare practitioners and organisations, academics, and affiliated global networks.
The core commitment which brings/holds PHM together was spelled out in the People’s Charter for Health:
Equity, ecologically‐sustainable development and peace are at the heart of our vision of a better world ‐ a world in which a healthy life for all is a reality; a world that respects, appreciates and celebrates all life and diversity; a world that enables the flowering of people's talents and abilities to enrich each other; a world in which people's voices guide the decisions that shape our lives. There are more than enough resources to achieve this vision.
The background to PHM’s formation in December 2000 was the failure of the WHO promise of ‘Health for all by the year 200’. The Charter recalls that:
In 1978, at the Alma‐Ata Conference, ministers from 134 member countries in association with WHO and UNICEF declared “Health for All by the Year 2000” selecting Primary Health Care as the best tool to achieve it.
Unfortunately, that dream never came true. The health status of third world populations has not improved. In many cases it has deteriorated further. Currently we are facing a global health crisis, characterized by growing inequalities within and between countries. New threats to health are continually emerging . This is compounded by negative forces of globalization which prevent the equitable distribution of resources with regard to the health of people and especially that of the poor.
Within the health sector, failure to implement the principles of primary health care, as originally conceived in Alma‐Ata has significantly aggravated the global health crisis.
PHM comprises regional and country circles, thematic groups (global and regional), and a number of global programs (more here). Every five years PHM comes together in our People’s Health Assembly (PHA).
The fifth People’s Health Assembly, held in Mar del Plata in Argentina in April 2024, adopted the Mar del Plata Call to Action. The Call to Action reviewed the global health situation in its wider context and concluded that:
The capitalist world is in a persistent and deepening crisis with on-going structural problems becoming more and more evident. It is an irreversible crisis of capitalism and imperialism, and the People’s Health Movement sees an opportunity to upend the political hegemony and transform the world in a way that makes health for all a reality.
Capitalism is destructive to nature including human beings, animals and plants. It turns nature into “resources” and “commodities” and disturbs the balance of eco- and social systems. It also concentrates enormous wealth in very few hands, producing poverty and inequality. Thus, it is unsustainable as it generates a level of climatic and environmental deterioration that cannot be reversed. Pandemics and the misnamed "natural disasters” result from this unsustainability.
Capitalism is infinite in its pursuit of profit and consumption, but the world we live in is finite, and its physical limits are being attacked and exceeded. Only a radical change that replaces the mode of production, consumption and life generated by capitalism can reverse this destructive trend. Imperialism brings the imposition of militarism backed by a powerful arms industry and the dominance of major powers. Its ideological domination supresses the alternative thoughts and ideas which could be transformative and could enable health for all to be achieved.
We confirm our determination to achieve Health for All (HFA) for human beings and planet earth. We are particularly concerned to build a sustainable future for our children and young people in which they can flourish and live in peace with Buen Vivir and good health We commit to building a world free of social class exploitation, ethnic, race, caste and gender discriminations and the subjugation and of exploitation of nature. Achieving HFA requires an eco-socialist, decolonial and anti-patriarchal world, based on the ideas of Buen Vivir among peoples and in harmony with Mother Earth.
Transformation of the transnational and imperialist capitalist system to a new international economic, political and social order will only happen through the joint action and solidarity of social movements, of progressive political parties and of nation states. Class struggle will be a vital part of this action. We believe the new economic order should be based on the sovereignty and self-determination of peoples, and equality and cooperation between nations, and on solidarity and peace. People’s control and ownership of the necessities of life needs to be restored. Public ownership for the public good is vital.
The Call to Action listed six action areas including in each case a denunciation of the existing situation, PHM’s demands and the actions it proposed. These six action areas are:
- Ecosystem health: food, energy, climate
- Diverse knowledges: Indigenous, ancestral, feminist, decolonial, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist
- A world free of corporate control: Resisting corporatisation, marketisation and colonisation
- Peace sovereignty and right to asylum and free movement: resisting war, occupation and forced migration
- Gender Justice in health
- Towards Transformation of Health Systems
The Call to Action identified four broad strategic directions for the next period:
- Continue the struggle against imperialism
- Converge with other social movements
- Stronger and more widespread country circles and advocacy capacity
- Inspirational communication for the Struggle for Health
Further info from dlegge [at] phmovement.org