Following some years of coordinating PHM’s Global Right to Health Campaign (RTHC), a Commission was set up in December 2009, tasked with defining the next phase for the global campaign. The Commission was asked to move the campaign from assessment phase to mobilisation and to propose ways for better integration of the RTH within PHM programmes. The Commission has proposed that the RTH be one of the overarching paradigm for PHM globally and proposed actions to more effectively use the RTH for movement building, focusing on networking, mobilisation and on capacity building.

The People’s Health Assembly (PHA3) to be held in Cape Town in July 2012, will provide the opportunity for a large number of PHM activists to engage with the work of the Commission, and to jointly be part of strategising and defining a clear programme of action for the RTH. In the lead up to the Assembly, we would encourage you to explore within your countries how the right to health could be used to strengthen country circles, with the aim of feeding this into workshops to be held at PHA3.

To see latest position paper go to :

http://www.phmovement.org/en/campaigns/145/page

The 65th World Health Assembly takes place from 21-26 May in Geneva. Many of the critical issues at stake in global health governance will be reviewed including NCDs, MDGs, Social Determinants of Health, the global regulation of pharmaceuticals, the funding of research and development. The on-going struggle over WHO Reform will also be resumed.
WHO Watch will be present at the WHA, reporting and commenting on the debates and engaging delegates and other civil society groups in various ways.

About WHO Watch
WHO Watch is a project of the People’s Health Movement in association with a number of other civil society networks coming together as the Democratising Global Health Governance Initiative. WHO Watch is a resource for advocacy and mobilisation and an intervention in global health governance
As a resource for advocacy and mobilisation WHO Watch provides a current account of global policy dynamics in relation to a wide and growing range of health issues. While the focus is on issues being considered through the WHO the background documentation provides a more broadly based account of these issues.
We aim to strengthen various streams in the Health for All movement (IP and access, trade and health, health systems, PHC, quality use of medicines, etc etc) by ensuring that activists whose concerns arise from their grass roots involvements can learn about the global dimensions of the problems they are facing and reshape their advocacy and mobilising accordingly.
WHO Watch is also an intervention in global health governance. Partly this is about defending WHO which has been subject to very bad stresses for several decades. WHO is the paramount health authority at the global level and needs to be strengthened and reformed and properly funded to play this role. WHO Watch seeks to generate support for a reformed WHO restored to its proper place in global health governance.
WHO Watch also aims to democratise the decision making within WHO, in particular supporting delegations from smaller countries. We aim to develop a resource which delegates to WHO governing bodies might turn to for ideas and resources. Our objective in resourcing this constituency is largely about better decision making in WHO.
The WHO Watch website aims to document current movements in global health policy in terms of events, topics and at the regional offices. One of the objectives of the website is to provide a resource for delegates from countries which have limited policy resources in their own MOHs.
Critical to the work of WHO Watch are the links between the watching processes and the various struggles for health in various districts, states and provinces and at the national level. These links enable local activists to keep in touch with the global policy movements which shape the context for such local struggles. These links also help to ensure that policy analysis and policy advocacy at the regional and global levels is informed by the reality of grass roots activism, both in health systems and around the conditions which shape health.
WHO Watch acknowledges the dedicated work of the growing body of volunteer watchers and policy analysts and is grateful for the support of a range of funding partners.

A SURVEY by Cancer Research UK’s helpline nurses has revealed that patients mainly need information to understand their situation and for peace of mind – not just to make treatment choices. The results are published today (Monday) in Cancer Nursing Practice.

More than half of respondents* in a survey of Cancer Research UK’s telephone helpline and email service users said that they sought information to have a specific question answered (63 per cent) and to cope with and understand their situation more clearly (46 per cent). Only a small number of people cited a need for information to make decisions (11 per cent).

These findings emphasised the important role played by Cancer Research UK and other helplines to answer patients’ questions to help them understand their situation more clearly.

Martin Ledwick, Cancer Research UK’s head information nurse, said: “It’s incredibly important that patients can make informed decisions. It’s easy to assume that people with cancer ask for information mainly to help them do this. But this survey showed that many people who contact us have a fundamental need to understand their situation which is not related to making a choice.”

Cancer Research UK has a range of patient information services. Its helpline on freephone 0808 800 4040 9am until 5pm Monday to Friday and email service is staffed by experienced cancer nurses who respond to around 10,500 enquiries each year. The charity also has an information web site cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org and forum www.cancerchat.org.uk .

News articles, presentations and a blog
We have some new presentations that members of the team have given at events recently, available to download for reference, from the website. These include:

A presentation given by Dr Jessica Allen – ‘Children’s centres: Early years, health inequalities, and outcomes’, delivered at a 4Children conference.
A presentation given by Sue Hogarth at the IHE workshop: ‘The role of health professionals in tackling health inequalities: Action on the social determinants of health.
A presentation by Ilaria Geddes at the IHE workshop: ‘Alcohol misuse, obesity and smoking: A social determinants approach to public health interventions.
Our news page has been updated with various news articles, including:

An blog in the economist that mentions Michael Marmot and the work of the IHE.
A Financial Times article on pensions that quotes Michael Marmot.
A BMJ article’Austerity measures will lead to rise in unemployment and suicides, says Marmot.’
An article in NewStart magazine that mentions the Marmot Review.
We also have a new blog by Michael Marmot available online, ‘Inspiring Kids… and the rest of us’, about his visit to Kids Company.

Consultations

We are currently running consultations on three projects:

‘The role of the health workforce in tackling health inequalities: Action on the social determinants of health’. The consultation deadline is the 18th May.
‘Tackling public health priorities through the social determinants of health’. The deadline for this consultation is on the 25th May.
And finally, a Children’s centre outcomes framework consultation, which will finish on the 18th May.
There is more information available about each of these projects via the links in the text above. The presentations listed above may also provide useful further information.

Other documents and information

Finally, a number of internal and external reports and information have been added to our website over the past month:

Information about the UCL summer school on ‘health and society’.
A press release from the IHE in response to the government’s alcohol strategy
The ‘Health Behaviour in School-aged Children’ report from the 2009/10 survey.
And further external reports, available on the ‘related work’ section of our website.

© Copyright The Marmot Review 2012