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

This fortnight A growing number of communicable diseases outbreaks are adding to the worries of health workers and activists around the world. In Uganda [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/10/21/uganda-needs-equipment-and-solidarity-in-the-face-of-ebola-outbreak/] , the recent Ebola outbreak led to new concerns about the country’s chronic health workers’ shortage and underfunded health

This fortnight Thousands of people around the world joined protests in support of safe abortion on September 28. In some countries, for example in Colombia, the mobilization took place after the women's movement secured progress in the field of sexual and reproductive health rights. Protesters in the United

This fortnight Every September, Medics for the People is among the co-organizers of ManiFiesta, the fest of solidarity in Ostend, Belgium. This year they hosted discussions on the shortage of health workers, workers’ health, and public pharma production. We bring a report [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/09/24/at-manifiesta-a-different-health-system-is-no-mere-vision/] from

This fortnight Inequities in access to Covid-19 and monkeypox vaccines and medicines point to the benefits the whole world could reap from a research and development model independent of Big Pharma. The ongoing struggle for access to medicines builds upon decades of activism in every corner of the world. Health

This fortnight Access to essential medicines remains a daunting problem for many as pharmaceutical companies from the Global North are allowed to drive the conversation, sidelining governments and patients' interests. Activists from the Delhi Network of Positive People have spent a full month protesting in front of the offices

This fortnight The World Health Organization declared the global monkeypox [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/08/01/as-monkeypox-cases-mount-need-of-the-hour-is-an-equitable-and-effective-response/] outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 23 July. The reaction to the outbreak is drawing criticism as the presence of the orthopox virus caused little concern while it was limited

This fortnight Following the historic victory of Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez in Colombia’s [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/07/21/is-health-transformation-possible-in-colombia-living-sabroso-living-healthy/] presidential election, health workers and patients are looking towards a major transformation of the health system. After decades of neoliberal policies that depleted working conditions and access to

This fortnight Violence against health workers and health infrastructure continues [https://reliefweb.int/report/world/unrelenting-violence-violence-against-health-care-conflict-2021-0] to add to the overall burden  in regions plagued by wars and armed conflict. The Israeli occupation of Palestine is one of the cases where the effects of this are easiest to see: in

This fortnight It took almost two full years for the World Trade Organization to adopt a decision on its role in the Covid-19 pandemic. Once it finally did, it was not the decision [https://tinyurl.com/phd28nowaiver ]the world needed: the 12th Ministerial Conference of the WTO did not result

This fortnight Country delegates are once again meeting in Geneva, this time for the 12th Ministerial Conference [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/06/12/wto-and-pandemic-response/] of the World Trade Organization (WTO). For almost two years, the WTO held the TRIPS waiver proposal on its agenda, but failed to secure any significant

This fortnight The World Health Organization is holding its first in-person assembly since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 75th World Health Assembly (WHA [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/05/22/who-to-hold-first-in-person-assembly-since-onset-of-pandemic/] ) will last until 28 May, bringing discussions on non-communicable diseases, health emergencies, health workforce planning, and much more.

This fortnight On International Nurses’ Day 2022, an Israeli military tribunal sentenced Palestinian nurse and health activist Shatha Odeh [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/05/13/israel-sentences-palestinian-nurse-and-health-activist-shatha-odeh-to-16-months-in-prison/] to 16 months of prison and a $9000 USD fine, with a 5-years suspended sentence on condition that she does not engage in provision

This fortnight As Sri Lanka [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/04/30/with-imf-in-the-picture-sri-lankas-public-health-sector-faces-a-new-crisis/] continues to face an unprecedented social and economic crisis, the public health system on the island is brought to the brink of disaster. After weeks of food and medicine shortages and power reductions, the government recently turned to

This fortnight A general rollback of policies introduced to provide support and security for people during the pandemic is well underway. In South Africa [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/04/15/health-workers-in-south-africa-protest-as-post-pandemic-austerity-looms/] , health workers employed during Covid-19 are predominately not seeing their contracts renewed. The austerity-based pandemic recovery that the government

This week On 7 April we mark World Health Day, also referred to by health activists as People’s Health Day. The day marks the anniversary of the formation of the World Health Organization in 1948. Yet, as the People’s Health Movement’s Co-Chairs Fran Baum and Sulakshana Nandi

This fortnight War and violence are among the most painful determinants shaping people’s health. Armed conflicts devastate both communities and human dignity. The worst consequences are suffered by those who have the least say when it comes to taking decisions about wars – women, children and other marginalized communities. This

This fortnight News of a tentative TRIPS waiver compromise [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/03/17/compromised-trips-waiver-will-prolong-pandemic-inequalities/] allegedly penned by a group of four countries - the US, the EU, South Africa and India - was published just around the time when the world was entering the third year of the

This fortnight As we prepare for 8 March, International Women’s Day, women’s health around the world remains undermined by conservative policies in sexual and reproductive health and austerity measures alike. Trade unions and health movements in France [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/03/03/women-rise-up-in-france-as-march-8-approaches/] have launched an international

This fortnight Protests and strikes by health workers all over the world have marked the first couple of months of 2022. Reacting to long-standing issues in the health system and rampant inflation, health workers in Turkey [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/02/19/turkish-health-workers-intensify-protests-amid-soaring-inflation-and-poor-working-conditions/] continue to persevere in their struggle for

This fortnight Millions of people around the world have been thrown into poverty during the Covid-19 pandemic, yet big pharmaceutical companies have reported record levels of profit. Thanks to sales of the Comirnaty vaccine, in 2021 Pfizer [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/02/05/the-people-of-the-world-vs-pfizer-inc/] has secured a 134% rise in

This fortnight While the number of omicron-related cases continues to increase, health workers are taking action for better working conditions. Their strikes and protests are a result of years of unresolved issues, which, in the middle of the pandemic, became even more pressing. In Barbados [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/

This fortnight The results of two recent elections - in Chile [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/07/end-of-the-road-for-chiles-neoliberal-healthcare-system/] and in Honduras [https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/01/07/rebuilding-healthcare-system-is-top-priority-for-incoming-government-in-honduras/] - have brought hope of a new life and freedom for health systems which have been burdened by a difficult history of