"TOWARDS HEALTH FOR ALL – ADDRESSING THE SOUTH ASIAN
DILEMMA"
Access to basic health services was
affirmed as a fundamental human right by the Declaration of Alma-Ata in 1978.
The reality is that 30 years on in 2008, people in South Asia still do not
have equitable access to even basic services..The SAARC region has one of the
poorest health indicators in the world with almost 40% of the total
global burden of deaths occurring in the region's four countries alone — it
houses the largest number of people with micronutrient deficiencies
and diabetes; carries 40% of the world's tuberculosis burden, and has
a high burden of cardiovascular diseases and one of the worst
indicators for reproductive health in the world. The under-5 child
mortality rates are among the highest in the world and almost 70% of the entire
global burden of low birth weight occurs in South Asia. According to the most
recent estimates of WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF and World Bank, in 2005, 99% of the
536,000 maternal deaths occurred in developing countries of these 36% were in
South Asia including Afghanistan. India had the largest number of maternal
deaths at 117000, followed by Bangladesh and Pakistan in that order; that
maternal mortality decreased annually at less than 1% between 1990 and 2005 is a
cause of grave concern. Enormous inequities in the provision of health care and
services, skewed priorities compounded by the tumult and conflict in the states
of the region contribute to the abysmal state of health of large number of the
region's population.
In most South Asian countries, excluding
Sri Lanka, the private medical sector out-performs the public sector. Access to
medical care is increasingly determined not by need, but by the ability to pay.
The introduction of privatization of health has lead to the collapse of the
Public Health System and the emergence of a exploitative profit making
private sector that the poor can hardly afford has created a divided system -
one for the rich and the other for the poor reinforcing the distance and
polarisation between the two groups. A negative impact of
globalisation-liberalisation-privatisation policies is the systemic
weakening of public health delivery that is accompanied by declining and/or
stagnant budgets and is resulting in the deterioration of quality of care. The
gradual withdrawal of the state from investments in public health services,
selective primary healthcare provisions and proliferation of an unregulated
private medical sector are exacerbating the vulnerability of the poor and the
marginalized.
These issues must be viewed in the backdrop of
enormous developments in many fields and the rapid growth of private enterprise.
India leads most of the world in information technology; both Pakistan and India
boast of nuclear weapons and sophisticated missile delivery systems (and have
been on the brink of nuclear conflict). Multiple incongruities and misplaced
priorities lie at the heart of the South Asian dilemma, where developments in
technology and industrialization have failed to bridge the urban-rural divide
and remove pervasive poverty and social inequity. In particular the low status
of women in South Asia, especially among its rural populations, is of grave
concern. Poverty and gender inequity are not the only social issues that impact
health in South Asia. The rapid growth of religious intolerance and
obscurantism, feuds and armed conflict in the subcontinent over the past two or
more decades, have had enormous implications on the physical and mental health
of its population. The genesis of such upheavals has many dimensions including
macroeconomic policies that exclude the poor and minority groups from benefits
as well as from investments in human development.
This panel on Health brings together social
scientists and activists from the public health and social science domains
in South Asia to discuss the various health issues and related concerns of
the peoples of the region and deliberate on ways of making SAARC
governments responsive and accountable for living up to the commitment of
providing Health for All.
Co-Organisers of the Health
Panel
- WHRAP- South
Asia:The Women's Health and Rights
Advocacy Partnership is part of the vision shared by ARROW and her partners to
move forward the sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda through
advocacy across the region. WHRAP brings together women's organisations who
are committed to strengthening civil society capacity to effectively advocate
for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), especially safe
motherhood and young people's SRHR at the local, national and regional
levels.Partners: Chetna and Sahayog – India, Shirkat Gah-
Pakistan, Naripokhkhoo and Bangladesh Women Coalition- Bangladesh
and Beyond Beijing Committee- Nepal . www.arrow.org.my
- Peoples Health Movement-
Srilanka: has its roots deep in the
grassroots people's movement and owes its genesis to many health networks and
activists who have been concerned by the growing inequities in health over the
last 25 years. The PHM calls for a revitalisation of the principles of the
Alma-Ata Declaration which promised Health for All by the year 2000 and
complete revision of international and domestic policy that has shown to
impact negatively on health status and systems. www.phmovement.org
- Health Watch Forum is a network active in several north Indian states for
advocacy and monitoring on reproductive health and rights. Healthwatch Forum
maintains the Reprohealth Listserve which is used by advocates and concerned
civil society members to communicate about maternal and reproductive health
and rights across India. SAHAYOG is anchoring the secretariat of Healthwatch
Forum. www.sahayogindia.org
§ Sama is Resource Group for Women and Health is based in Delhi
and was initiated by a group of women's health activists from different parts of
India, who have been involved with women's empowerment and health for several
years. Sama believes in confronting all forms of discrimination and emphasizes
on equality, empowerment and rights of women, especially from marginalized
communities, and perceives health from a gender, caste, class and rights
perspective. www.samawomenshealth.org
- Centre for Health Equity,
Jaipur: is an
initiative focusing on issues of inequities and related topics in health
sector. It mobilizes disadvantaged citizens to petition the
government and demand what is rightfully theirs. Focusing primarily on health
equity and accessibility, the Centre monitors issues such
as access to primary health care, the Community AIDS Awareness Program, State
level advocacy programs regarding coercive population
programs. www.prayaschittor.org/salientf.htm
Panel- Basic Needs- Health
"TOWARDS HEALTH FOR ALL
SOUTH ASIAN DILEMMA"
Date- 19th July
Time- 2.00pm- 4.30pm
Venue: Yamuna- (Tent )
|
1 |
Conflict and Health Issues –
-
Peoples Health
Movement- Sri Lanka-- Sirimal
-
Women Health Rights
Advocacy Partnership- Nepal- Bina Pradhan
|
2.00-
2.40 pm |
|
2 |
Health Care Financing and Universal
Access to Health
Centre of Human Rights and Social
Justice - Abhijit - India
|
2.40-
3.00pm
|
|
3 |
Maternal Mortality--- South Asian
Crisis
WHRAP- Pakistan and India- Indu Kapoor
|
3.00-
3.20 pm |
|
4 |
Indian Women's Health Charter-
Indian Women Health
Movement/ WHRAP -
Kamayani Bali- Mahabal
|
3.20-
3.40pm |
|
5 |
Open Forum- Discussion-
"Issues and Concerns"
Moderator-Narendra Gupta,
Centre for Health Equity,
Jaipur
|
3.40-
4.30pm |
