Peoples Health Movement - Global Health Watch 4: An Alternative World Health Report

Praise for previous editions of Global Health Watch

Global Health Watch 3 , like the previous editions of the Watch, provides us with compelling evidence about all that is wrong with the governance of health care systems across the world. At the same time it also provides us with hope, in the many stories about what can be done and what is being done. The challenge before us is to act decisively on the evidence provided. Dr Halfdan Mahler, former director general of the World Health Organization

Global Health Watch 3 provides the thorough and provoking overview of global health issues that we have come to expect from the series. The case studies of change in action provide powerful evidence that poverty and inequity are neither inevitable nor insurmountable, and my students are going to relish debating the feasibility of redesigning health and health care using the alternative blueprint suggested in the latter half of the book. Dr Jolene Skordis-Worrall, UCL Institute for Global Health

Since 2005, when the first edition of Global Health Watch was launched in Cuenca, Ecuador, each new edition has provided an entirely new and stirring account of creativity and courage from peoples and communities in all corners of the world, as they relentlessly struggle against the wide-ranging, criminal path of capitalism, rapaciously determined to cause ever more suffering and death. GHW3 , surpassing its forerunners, masterfully addresses the relationship among health, health inequalities and their social determinants with exceptional scientific rigour, providing us with an indispensable reference for academics, activists, policy-makers, leaders, government officials, and students. Each section in the book objectively describes and supports the facts, while also unmasking the underlying processes, laying out new paths, and evaluating proposals. Reading GHW3 is a necessary step in understanding how challenging and urgent change is, but that it is increasingly necessary for the survival of our planet Earth. Dr Eduardo Espinoza, vice-minister for health of El Salvador

Excellent I highly recommend this treasure trove, which is full of food for thought, to scholars and health workers alike. Dr Maria Isabel Rodriguez, rector of the University of El Salvador, 19992007

Global Health Watch confirms the failure of the UN, capitalism and liberal democracy. It also convinces us that we shall need a radically new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive. Dr Suwit Wibulpolprasert, senior adviser on disease control, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand

An important contribution to understand the overwhelming health problems and their relation to the globalised oppressive world economy. Asa Cristina Laurell, former secretary of health of Mexico City and secretary of health of the Legitimate Government of Mexico

An incisive socio-political critique of contemporary global health issues which focuses on determinants rather than diseases, enables the reader to unravel the complexity of global economic governance of health, and helps us understand why appalling health inequities persist across and within nations a must-read for anyone involved or interested in public health. K. Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India

A very good reference for people working in areas affecting the health of populations. It deals with some of the most important issues in todays world. I highly recommend it. Vicente Navarro, editor-in-chief, International Journal of Health Services

Combines academic analysis with a call to mobilize the health professional community to press for improvements in global health and justice. I hope it will be read by many health professionals in rich and poor countries alike. Professor Andy Haines, dean, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

It is very good to see issues of trade and globalization reflected prominently in a report aimed at health professionals. Global Health Watch provides them with a resource to engage in debates about these non-clinical, structural determinants of poor health. Martin Khor, director, Third World Network

Governments and intergovernmental organizations have structured our social world so that half of humankind still lives in severe poverty. These global poor suffer vast health deficits. This greatest moral outrage of our time will continue until citizens reflect on its causes and firmly place the human rights of the global poor on the political agenda. Global Health Watch is a courageous and promising effort in this direction. Thomas Pogge, professorial research fellow, Centre for Applied Philosophy, Australian National University

The Global Health Watch is a broad collaboration of public health experts, non-governmental organizations, civil society activists, community groups, health workers and academics. It was initiated by the Peoples Health Movement, Global Equity Gauge Alliance and Medact as a platform of resistance to the neoliberal dominance in health.

GLOBAL HEALTH WATCH 4

AN ALTERNATIVE WORLD HEALTH REPORT

Peoples Health Movement | Cape Town

Medact | London

Medico International | Frankfurt

Third World Network | Penang

Health Action International | Amsterdam

Asociacin Latinoamericana de Medicina Social | Mexico City

Global Health Watch 4: An Alternative World Health Report was first published in 2014 by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF, UK

This ebook edition was first published in 2014

www.zedbooks.co.uk

Copyright Peoples Health Movement, Medact, Medico International, Third World Network, Health Action International and ALAMES 2014

The rights of Peoples Health Movement, Medact, Medico International, Third World Network, Health Action International and Asociacin Latinoamericana de Medecina Social to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

Index:

Cover: www.roguefour.co.uk

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of Zed Books Ltd.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-78360-254-4 hb

ISBN 978-1-78360-253-7 pb

ISBN 978-1-78360-255-1 pdf

ISBN 978-1-78360-256-8 epub

ISBN 978-1-78360-257-5 mobi

CONTENTS

BOXES, TABLES AND FIGURES

IMAGES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Global Health Watch 4, like the previous volumes, has been written collectively by a number of academics, scholars and activists. All those who have contributed to the contents are acknowledged at the end of the volume. We would like to particularly acknowledge all contributors and express our special gratitude to all of them for having worked without any honorarium, a spirit of volunteerism that we value immensely. Individual contributors have been involved in writing specific sections of the Watch and cannot therefore be held accountable for the views expressed in the whole volume.

We wish to thank our funding partners Medico International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC) for support provided. The views in the Watch are not necessarily those of our funding partners.