This fortnight   One year into the Marcos Junior administration in the Philippines, the state of health care remains largely unchanged. Despite Bongbong Marcos' announcement that he would enhance the health insurance model to improve coverage, this promise has yet to materialize. Instead, the people in the Philippines face worsening social

This fortnight Groups advocating for child and women’s health will mark World Breastfeeding Week from August 1 to 4. This year, their focus will be on issues related to supporting essential maternity protections. While continuing their fight for environments that are more supportive of breastfeeding, these groups will also

This fortnight   The governments in Colombia and Brazil have ambitious plans to introduce health reforms that could significantly expand health rights. These reforms are a response to long periods dominated by neoliberal, pro-commercialization policies in their health systems. During the last World Health Assembly, activists from the WHO Watch team

This fortnight   More than 4,000 delegates will participate in the 17th National Health Conference in Brasília from July 2 to 5. They will discuss strategies for strengthening the Unified Health System (SUS). President Lula and Health Minister Nísia Trindade will be in attendance, working together with the delegates to

This fortnight   Discussions in global health continue to center around decisions made in Geneva after the 76th World Health Assembly. The ongoing negotiations on the Pandemic Treaty raise doubts about whether the final draft will incorporate lessons from previous outbreaks. Francisco Viegas of the Médecins Sans Frontières Access campaign spoke

This fortnight   The World Health Organization recently concluded another World Health Assembly in May. Discussions at the WHA focused on the organization's role in health emergencies and its financing challenges. Some last-minute changes in the decision on strengthening WHO's flexible budget raised concerns among civil society about increased corporate influence,

This fortnight   When the People's Health Dispatch was launched two years ago, the world was already reeling under the COVID-19 pandemic. The warnings from health activists, voiced long before the pandemic, quickly became a harsh reality. Health systems crumbled under the weight of the pandemic due to cost-cutting measures. These

This fortnight   The People's Health Movement is set to hold a new People's Health Assembly in Cali, Colombia, in late 2023. The assembly will bring together activists and organizations to establish strategies for achieving the right to health. Health workers and trade unions are expected to play a leading role

This fortnight   Despite the critical role that health workers play in keeping communities healthy, the world is still grappling with a severe shortage of trained medical personnel. This problem has been particularly acute in the Global South, where underfunded healthcare systems and aggressive recruitment drives from high-income countries have contributed

This week   In a jubilee year for the World Health Organization, we are still far away from achieving Health for All. For the founders of the WHO, health was “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being”, not simply the absence of physical illness. Their vision did not translate

This fortnight   The number of cholera outbreaks in the world continues to grow, as does the number of infections and deaths. Cholera is a well known disease of poverty, and its spread can be contained in a very simple way: by ensuring access to clean water and sanitation. Still, there

This fortnight   Health workers’ protests continue as governments refuse to translate pandemic claps into concrete investment in health systems. In Croatia, physicians’ trade unions and associations organized a mass protest for the protection of the health system. In South Africa, health workers embarked on a ten-day long strike which led

This week   In this thematic edition of People's Health Dispatch, we look at the actions undertaken around the world on occasion of International Working Women's Day. The health of women is strongly intertwined with other aspects of their lives. Adsa Fatima from Sama - Resource Group for Women and Health

This fortnight   The Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) closed another meeting with the outlook of continuing discussions on the International Health Regulations and the Pandemic Treaty. Jyotsna Singh from the People’s Health Movement talks about the ways in which the pandemic has influenced these discussions in

This fortnight   Health care delivery in the northwest of Syria remains under threat after the region was hit by two strong earthquakes on February 6. The damage caused by the earthquake adds to the burden accumulated in the health system after years of sanctions, armed conflict, and scarcity of essential

This fortnight   The World Health Organization’s Executive Board is holding its 152nd meeting in Geneva from January 30 to February 7. The Board’s decisions will set most of the agenda to be addressed by WHO during the year, and include health emergencies, progress reports towards Universal Health Coverage,

This fortnight Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform plans caused mass protests all over France [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/01/20/emmanuel-macrons-pension-reform-is-a-health-hazard/] , with health workers and collectives joining the mobilizations. The reform would deepen existing health inequalities between workers in different sectors, as well as women and men in the workplace,

This fortnight As a new year begins, nurses around the world are at the forefront of the struggle for the right to health. Tens of thousands of nurses in parts of the United Kingdom went on strike in December 2022. After years of being ignored by different administrations, seeing their

This fortnight The world marked another Human Rights Day on January 10. Even on this day, thousands of people around of world saw their right to health denied and attacked. In some places, this happened because of rising inequalities and the impossibility to access essential necessities, including food. This was

This fortnight Health workers around the world are intensifying action for better working conditions. After strikes in the primary health care system in Madrid and announcements of industrial action by nurses in Portugal [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/11/21/nurses-in-portugal-demand-wages-at-par-with-employees-in-public-administration/] , health workers in Scotland [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/11/29/

This fortnight Primary health care is of particular importance for achieving Health for All. Yet, when it comes to implementing health policy and funding health systems, primary health care is regularly ignored. After years of cuts made to primary health care services in Madrid [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/11/20/

This fortnight The World Health Organization, in its role as the United Nations’ health agency, formally stands in the lead for strengthening public health systems worldwide. Yet the role that international financial institutions play in the shaping of health systems has only grown with time. Today, the World Bank and