PEAH-Policies for Equitable Access to Health aims to tackle ALL health priority challenges relevant to -though not limited to- climate safeguarding, fair access to care, medicines and food, disadvantaged/discriminated people and cultural diversity protection from a view encompassing the policies, strategies and practices of all involved actors.

Inherently, PEAH focus encompasses the best options for use of trade and government rules, the effects of current international agreements and intellectual property standards, the opportunities offered by new financing mechanisms and innovation models, and the ways for better coherence, coordination and collaboration among stakeholders supposed to streamline access to health priorities

By Daniele Dionisio

PEAH – Policies for Equitable Access to Health

Want to Contribute an Article to PEAH?

 

A platform maintained by Daniele Dionisio*, PEAH – Policies for Equitable Access to Health serves as an internationally oriented blog backed by academics and stakeholders from a number of organisations worldwide.

Not an indexed journal, PEAH runs without any monetary grant/funding/support. Nonetheless, it benefits from world scale audience actively coming to the website, while relying to date on around eight thousand regular followers whose numbers are on the rise on daily basis.

People from leading centres and institutions continue writing articles for PEAH, as shown by our Featuring section (see also links to 2022  2021 and 2020  external contributions).

Are you willing to contribute an article to PEAH?

Spontaneous submissions in the form of articles, editorials and blogs are welcome. Pieces dealing with the priorities and challenges first and foremost in the resource-limited countries, including for fair access to high-quality health treatments and care, food, and for climate safeguarding would be to the point.

PEAH aims to face, indeed, ALL health priority challenges relevant to -though not limited to- climate safeguarding, fair access to care, medicines and food, disadvantaged/discriminated people and cultural diversity protection from a view encompassing the policies, strategies and practices of all involved actors.

Inherently, PEAH focus encompasses the best options for use of trade and government rules, the effects of current international agreements and intellectual property standards, the opportunities offered by new financing mechanisms and innovation models, and the ways for better coherence, coordination and collaboration among stakeholders supposed to streamline access to health priorities.

No editorial requirements nor limits as regards the length and structure of your contribution, and you are invited to incorporate references as hyperlinks directly in the text.

Upon editor’s acceptance, your manuscript will enjoy free of charge, immediate online publication for circulation throughout PEAH network** and sharing on social media platforms.

You are free to re-publish your piece from PEAH, provided that PEAH quotation as the original source is included together with proper web-link.

If you wish to contribute, please submit to PEAH editor at danieledionisio1@gmail.com

 

* Daniele Dionisio is a member of the European Parliament Working Group on Innovation, Access to Medicines and Poverty-Related Diseases. Former director of the Infectious Disease Division at the Pistoia City Hospital (Italy), Dionisio is Head of the research project PEAH - Policies for Equitable Access to Health. 

** PEAH network includes, among others, the EU Parliament Group on “Innovation, Access to Medicines and Poverty-Related Diseases”, representatives at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Directorate General for Development Cooperation in Rome, leaders from academia worldwide, managers from emerging economies' drug industries and executives from UN agencies, Medecins Sans Frontieres and international NGOs, the Global Fund, Knowledge Ecology International, Indian Council of Medical Research, Quamed, Oxfam, SciDev.net, Devex, Health Property Watch, I-MAK, AFEW, Wemos, DNDi, the Italian National Institutes of Health,...

News Flash Links, as part of the research project PEAH (Policies for Equitable Access to Health), aim to focus on the latest challenges by trade and governments rules to equitable access to health in resource-limited settings

Mauve Stinger jellyfish (Pelagia Noctiluca)

News Flash 512

Weekly Snapshot of Public Health Challenges

 

SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS – 19th IAHPE Conference: Capitalism, Pandemics, and Public Health (21-24 September 2023, Thessaloniki, Greece) | Deadline on 31 May 2023

WHO:152nd session of the Executive Board proceedings webcast

WHO Pressured to Spend More on Nations

MSF statements at WHO Executive Board 152nd session

EXCLUSIVE: Pandemic Treaty ‘Zero-Draft’ is Out – And Proposes WHO Gets 20% of All Pandemic Products to Ensure Equity

What to watch at WHO’s executive board meeting

Topics Creating Buzz Ahead of WHO’s Upcoming Executive Board Meeting

NEW VIDEO: SUSTAINABLE FINANCE FOR HEALTH SYSTEMS

Statement on the fourteenth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic

Coronavirus updates

Africans Struggled to Get COVID-19 Tests – What Must Change Before the Next Pandemic?

Facing the New Covid-19 Reality

Study Suggests Side-Effects and Costs Are Biggest Issues for Users Of HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis

African leaders unite in pledge to end AIDS in children

Eight trends that will impact children in 2023

Pandemic Proof: Learning from Sweden on Superbugs

More countries eliminate neglected tropical diseases but investments key to sustain progress

MSF calls for increased global investment ahead of World NTD Day

Neglected Tropical Diseases: Integrate to Eliminate

Fight Against Parasitic Worms, Sleeping Sickness Gets New Funding

EMA: Meeting highlights from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) 23-26 January 2023

The global gap in access to opioid analgesics for pain management: why is this (still) a silent crisis?

Achieving Patient-Centeredness In Medicare’s New Drug Price Negotiation Program

Use of Clinical Trials Information System becomes mandatory for new clinical trial applications in the EU

HRR 663: A POORLY UNDERSTOOD HUMAN RIGHTS CONCEPT: FIND A CLARIFICATION HERE

Sex workers health: time to act

Interventions to improve health and the determinants of health among sex workers in high-income countries: a systematic review

The Value of Insects: Why We Must Act Now to Protect Them

As the Climate Crisis Bites, Soil Needs Doctors Too

Italian cities fail to meet air pollution threshold, study shows

Urban agrobiodiversity, health and city climate adaptation plans

Political commitments needed to address health impacts of the climate crisis and biodiversity loss

Joy Shumake-Guillemot: linking climate to health

Health brief: Planting trees = saving lives

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News Flash Links, as part of the research project PEAH (Policies for Equitable Access to Health), aim to focus on the latest challenges by trade and governments rules to equitable access to health in resource-limited settings

Dusky grouper (Epinephelus Marginatus)

News Flash 511

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Webinar registration: Launch of Medicines Patent Pool Strategy 2023-2025 Jan 30, 2023

Webinar: Key features of technology platforms for R&D to rapidly respond to new outbreaks 2 February 2023

WHO urges action to protect children from contaminated medicines

Declare Pediatric Health Emergencies Like Lives Depend On It

Access Denied: What happens when Big Pharma is in the driver’s seat

New Business Technology Transfer Provides Benefits for African Pharmaceutical Industry

Joint statement by Executive Steering Group on Shortages and Safety of Medicinal Products (MSSG) on shortages of antibiotic medicines

Audio Interview: Weighing the Protective Value of Covid-19 Infection

Assessing the Role of Treaties, Conventions, Institutions, and Other International Agreements in the Global COVID-19 Response: Implications for the Future

Outbreaks to watch: Vaccine-preventable diseases surge post-pandemic

AI tool ‘98 per cent correct’ to predict mosquitoes’ age

Tanzanian Scientists Study Mosquitoes’ Mating Behaviour to Control Malaria

Effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease enters ‘last mile’

MSF calls for increased global investment ahead of World NTD Day

Message for World Leprosy Day 2023

Cervical Cancer is Preventable

START: Stop Tobacco with Assistance and Recover Today  by Sumedha Kushwaha

Congress demands that FDA and NIH sanction sponsors that fail to report clinical trial results

How are pharma companies in Europe doing on clinical trial transparency?

Assessment of human dietary exposure to residues of veterinary medicines in the EU

Opinion: 5 buzzwords global health should sunset in 2023

Afghan girls and women made focus of International Education Day: UNESCO

Preventing and managing spina bifida

The Unspoken Triad of Politics, Business, and Physicians: The Political Economy of Health in Bangladesh

People’s Health Dispatch Bulletin 42: More health workers join fight for social justice

THE SUPER-RICH PAY LOWER TAXES THAN YOU – AND HERE’S HOW THEY DO IT…

HRR 662: HUMAN RIGHTS ARE ABOUT DIALOGUE AND STRUGGLE. WE HAVE DONE LOTS OF DIALOGUING, LITTLE ON THE STRUGGLE

Brazil to Call for Protection of Indigenous People’s Health After Bolsonaro ‘Abandonment’ During COVID-19

A Look Back at Climate Migration Policy in 2022

How Innovative Farming Rescues Crises-Stricken Farmers in This Indian Village

European Union Pushes for Stronger Air Pollution Rules

What You Need to Know About Africa’s New Carbon Market Initiative

Report: Improving Animal Welfare Is Key to Sustainable Aquaculture

Food security and ecosystem resilience: Commission boosts action on pollinators

 

 

 

 

 

This article turns the spotlight on the START (Stop Tobacco with Assistance and Recover Today) project as a mobile application to enable any health or social worker to get trained in tobacco cessation counseling-TCC. It has been developed based on scientifically proven methods and strategies to help tobacco users successfully quit use of tobacco. It is now available on Play Store, freely downloadable Version 1.0 for Android users

By Dr. Sumedha Kushwaha

PhD Scholar-University of Toronto I Research Assistant- CAMH & OTRU I CEO- GIPHI I Founder- ATTAC, IIDA I PT Professor-Humber College 

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

START: Stop Tobacco with Assistance and Recover Today

 

Globally, tobacco kills 8 million people annually. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco use kills up to half of its users. The various forms of tobacco include – smoking; smokeless/chewing; moist snuff- which is held in mouth; dry snuff- inhaled through nose; water pipe; and inhaling vapor through an electronic cigarette. It is the nicotine in tobacco products which makes it addictive. Along with its other constituents, it causes Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) namely cancer, heart diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and stroke. Each year the majority of deaths are due to direct effects and indirect exposure due to secondhand smoking. More than 80% of the world’s 1.3 billion tobacco users live in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Amongst LMICs, India is the second largest producer and consumer of tobacco. According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2 (GATS 2), 10% and 24% of the total Indian population uses smoking and smokeless tobacco respectively.

Interestingly, there is also a huge demand for tobacco cessation services. Data suggests that 38.4% and 33.2% smokers and smokeless tobacco users respectively, made a quit attempt in the past 12 months. 55.4% and 49.6% current smokers and smokeless tobacco users planned or were thinking about quitting tobacco. Evidence suggests that doctors and dentists, who are primary standard care givers in such circumstances have not shown promising knowledge, attitude, practices in tobacco cessation counseling (TCC).

Major barriers to this process are reported as lack of time, under confidence, no skills or training, demotivation due to no remuneration. Additionally, negatively skewed health professional/population ratio creates a huge gap between the demand and supply for TCC service providers. There are significant urban–rural differences in human resources for health with urban areas having four times greater doctor density than rural areas. There is further scarcity of trained mental health professionals, which creates a huge gap between the demand and supply for TCC services. Due to a drastic increase in mobile phone usage, last mile internet connectivity, and innovations in health technology-mobile applications have been proven to be successful in such measures. Evidence further suggests that there are many mobile applications for helping users quit, however, there are very few studies on the use of mobile applications for training health workers to become Tobacco Cessation Counselors, especially in LMICs like India.

Our project START (Stop Tobacco with Assistance and Recover Today) is a mobile application to enable any health or social worker to get trained in TCC. It has been developed based on scientifically proven methods and strategies to help tobacco users successfully quit use of tobacco. It is now available on Play Store, freely downloadable Version 1.0 for Android users.

It has features like:

1. Session wise evidence-based counseling protocol in lay language for social workers. Upto three sessions, the health worker gets textual and graphical cues to be delivered in each session.
2. Calculator-which helps to calculate financial burden due to tobacco use and monetary benefits due to quitting;
3. Calendar to book next appointment;
4. Tests: There are inbuilt tests like the Motivation to Quit Scale and the Fagerstrom Nicotine Dependent Test to assess the intention of quitting and intensity of dependence on nicotine.
5. Trackers to monitor usage, abstinence, mood, withdrawal symptoms, relapse;
6. FAQs: it’s a service which allows social workers clear technical or medical doubts regarding tobacco use and mental health, pregnancy, vulnerable population groups, other substance abuse etc. through a vast database of related knowledge.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.start.gifi is the link to download this application. This is a novel and different from existing solutions, as they are mostly directed towards patients themselves.

 

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On (By) the same Author on PEAH

Swastha Mahila Swastha Goa: A Demonstration of Implementation Science 

PEAH Interviews ATTAC – Aim to Terminate Tobacco and Cancer – Society

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ATTAC – Aim to Terminate Tobacco And Cancer – Society

News Flash Links, as part of the research project PEAH (Policies for Equitable Access to Health), aim to focus on the latest challenges by trade and governments rules to equitable access to health in resource-limited settings

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Webinar registration: Series of public briefings and policy debates ahead of WHO EB 152, hosted by G2H2 23-27 January 2023

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Analysing the Efficiency of Health Systems: A Systematic Review of the Literature

The Future of Global Health Spending Amidst Multiple Crises

Member States of the WHO African Region propose ambitious amendments to the International Health Regulations on intellectual property, licensing, transfer of technology, and know-how

Q&A: Africa’s new order for achieving health security

Stopping epidemics when and where they occur

Most Long COVID Symptoms ‘Resolve’ within 12 Months

Audio Interview: Weighing the Protective Value of Covid-19 Infection

WHO updates COVID-19 guidelines on masks, treatments and patient care

Germany’s COVID-19 response: on the gendered impact of invisibility in global crises

COVID-19 DRUGMAKERS PRESSURED TWITTER TO CENSOR ACTIVISTS PUSHING FOR GENERIC VACCINE

HOW TAJIKISTAN RESPONDED RAPIDLY TO A POLIO OUTBREAK

Antimicrobial Resistance: A Major Threat To The Promise Of Healthy Aging

WHO announces plans to establish a TB Vaccine Accelerator council

India must reject Johnson & Johnson’s attempt to extend monopoly on lifesaving TB drug bedaquiline

United Nations: Fight Racism

NGOs lament ‘human cost’ of Italy’s push to curb refugee arrivals

2023: The Year the EU Must Step Up to Tackle Development Challenges

Oxfam: Survival Of The Richest – How Billionaires Are Amassing Eye-watering Wealth Amid Crisis

One Billion People Lack Access to Health Facilities with Reliable Electricity

HRR 661: MEASURES TAKEN ON HEALTH MATTERS CANNOT BE ANOTHER TOOL OF TECHNOCRATS WHO DISCUSS AND DEPLOY THEM BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Africa’s Vast Arable Land Underutilized for Both Cash and Food Crops

How to end hunger: A famine expert’s plan

Assessment of human dietary exposure to residues of veterinary medicines in the EU

Disaster Giving Goes Mostly to Immediate Relief, Not Prevention or Long-Term Recovery

ActNow: the United Nations campaign for individual action on climate change and sustainability

Ozone layer recovery is on track, helping avoid global warming by 0.5°C

Opinion: Ahead of Davos, a message — in (good) data we trust

Davos strapped between old and new as economy, war and climate set to dominate agenda

Climate activists in Davos protest over role of oil firms at WEF

In Davos, activists warn against climate inaction and greenwashing

WEF launches plan to turn philanthropy into climate investments

New Partnership to Produce Health and Climate Research

45% renewables target ‘is ambitious but feasible’, says EU climate chief

Switzerland and Ecuador Appeal for Treaty to End the ‘Plastic Crisis’

EU loopholes give free pass to toxic banned pesticides

Twitter’s #ClimateScam and Fossil-Fueled Facebook Ads Documented In New COP27 Report

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only through deeds, rather than empty words, will we have any hope of creating genuine, positive change which will improve the quality of life and health for all. We live in a complex and highly interconnected world in which changes in one place can often be felt elsewhere. The Earth is likely to survive for many millions of years to come, but for how long will humans be part of its story? Whatever the answer to this question, humanity needs to change and start soon…

By Dr. Brian Johnston

Senior Public Health Intelligence Manager

London, United Kingdom

Shifting Sands – Health in a Changing World

 

If the COVID pandemic has taught us anything, it is the complexity, sophistication, and relentlessness of nature. The virus hit us like a juggernaut, and whilst science and technology have slowed its progress, it remains a slippery opponent, capable of morphing into variants which seriously challenge our healthcare systems. We are still learning about the virus, and it continues to play an important part in our lives, through the ongoing death toll, the damage caused by long COVID and the colossal social and economic impacts on society. Unfortunately, this state of affairs is likely to endure for a long time to come.

Another invaluable lesson from the pandemic, is the importance of health inequalities within our societies and how disease can generate major differences in mortality rates based on level of deprivation, with the poor suffering disproportionately. Linked to this, the significance of wider determinants of health in affecting health outcomes has been recognised. However, whilst it is appreciated that these social, environmental, and economic factors exert a substantial impact on both physical and mental wellbeing, deprivation continues to negatively affect the lives of billions of people across the world. Indeed, in many societies, health inequalities continue to widen, as the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” increases.

The current economic crisis faced by many countries developed out of the chaos created by COVID and has been perpetuated by political instability and other causative factors. Much of this damage has been avoidable and is the result of seeds planted many years ago and left to grow unchecked. Lack of leadership, greed, apathy, ignorance and a passive, unthinking acceptance of the status-quo, have created a world where resources are distributed unfairly. Deprivation affects large parts of the world, and many people struggle through difficult lives blighted by stress, poverty, and ill-health, whilst others enjoy a blessed existence, with good mental and physical health and easy access to healthcare.

However, nothing lasts forever… In recent years, we have witnessed increasingly severe and unusual weather patterns due to global warming and this climate change shows little sign of diminishing in the near future. If this unusual weather continues and intensifies, large areas could experience summer temperatures that make human habitation difficult or impossible, rising sea levels will submerge islands, deserts will expand, and arable land will diminish, through the erosion of topsoil and other factors.

Against this background, the world’s population continues to increase, placing greater pressure on finite resources, including food and water. In countries where the infrastructure is already straining to address the needs of the population, health and social services will increasingly struggle to meet the sheer volume of demand, in the face of historic and systemic under-investment. In these circumstances, large sections of the population may be forced to live in squalid unhealthy conditions, where access to healthcare services is thwarted by poverty, crime, political instability  and war.

In many countries, climate change is likely to worsen already dire conditions, creating complex and self-perpetuating spirals of deprivation. Deprivation is closely linked to poor health and where the number of people in need escalates, there is the danger of healthcare services breaking down due to excessive demand. Furthermore, in regions where people are no longer able to make a living by cultivating crops, they are likely to move to cities, and the promise of greater opportunities. However, not everyone can prosper in these urban settings and many people are likely to suffer exploitation and abuse and be condemned to live in overcrowded housing, where infectious diseases flourish in unsanitary conditions. Indeed, their quality of life may very well be worse than their previous rural existence.

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, people prioritise their basic physiological needs (such as food and shelter), as these are essential for survival. So, in situations where they cannot survive and thrive, they may be motivated to seek better lives elsewhere, leading to increased levels of migration towards rich, highly developed, and industrialised countries. This tendency would then place increased strain on the health and social care infrastructure within their adoptive countries, forcing those healthcare systems to adapt to the increased demand on services.

Currently, the healthcare system within the United Kingdom is challenged by lengthy waiting lists for elective surgery, A&E departments struggling to meet high demand, heightened winter pressures due to influenza and COVID-19, as well as a shortage of hospital beds for various reasons. Many of these issues emerged before the COVID pandemic, but have worsened in recent years, due to the sheer volume of people accessing services. People are also living longer and are therefore more likely to suffer from long term chronic conditions with increasing age, so that our healthcare system has to cope with not only more cases, but cases of increasing complexity, which are both labour intensive and costly to treat.

Against this background, the impact of migration in the medium to long term, due to climate change and other factors, is likely to place increasing stress on an already creaking healthcare system. The United Kingdom is not alone in facing these challenges and if we are to provide good quality healthcare for all, serious consideration will need to be given to viable solutions. New technology and innovative treatments will only take us so far, as will the restructuring of health and social care services. Perhaps what is needed is a genuine international consensus to reduce deprivation in all its forms, distribute resources more equitably, enrich people’s lives through access to education and employment and truly commit to measures which reduce global warming and climate change.

Only through deeds, rather than empty words, will we have any hope of creating genuine, positive change which will improve the quality of life and health for all. We live in a complex and highly interconnected world in which changes in one place can often be felt elsewhere. The Earth is likely to survive for many millions of years to come, but for how long will humans be part of its story? Whatever the answer to this question, humanity needs to change and start soon…

 

By the same Author on PEAH
 
How to Combat Future Pandemics
 
The New Abnormal
 
Living with COVID in a Transformed World

  Death in the Time of COVID

  Unleashing the True Potential of Data – COVID-19 and Beyond

 

 

 

 

 

 

News Flash Links, as part of the research project PEAH (Policies for Equitable Access to Health), aim to focus on the latest challenges by trade and governments rules to equitable access to health in resource-limited settings

Egg jellyfish (Cotylorhiza Tuberculata)

News Flash 509

Weekly Snapshot of Public Health Challenges

 

2022: A Year in Review Through PEAH Contributors’ Takes  by Daniele Dionisio

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Webinar registration: “What’s on, and what is to be done”. Series of public briefings and policy debates ahead of WHO EB 152, hosted by G2H2 23-27 January 2023

Webinar registration: Virtual Information Session UHC Action Agenda Jan 16, 2023 02:00 PM

WHO Proposes High-Level Global Council to Guide Future Health Emergencies

Routine immunisation programmes in southeast Asia: beyond the routine

The mind-boggling challenge of long COVID

What You Need to Know About XBB.1.5, the Latest Omicron Variant

Covid-19 Cases in Africa

Novel Ways to Advance Sudan Ebolavirus Vaccine Candidates? Experts Meet as Uganda’s Outbreak Declared Over

5 Things Older Adults Need to Know About RSV

Tanzania Deploys ‘HeroRats’ to Improve Tuberculosis Diagnosis

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Taking on the Commercial Determinants of Health at the level of actors, practices and systems

When Weight Impacts Health

Health Care’s Many Roles In Raising The Bar For Equity

Disruption is necessary to deliver our mission in global health

Political economy analysis of sub-national health sector planning and budgeting: A case study of three counties in Kenya

UN chief calls for sweeping reform of ‘biased’ financial system

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Five graphs to understand the decline in child mortality across the world

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Can SDRs Be Used for Loss and Damage Finance?

BIODIVERSITY EXPLAINED: FACTS, MYTHS, AND THE RACE TO PROTECT IT

Pakistan flood recovery conference a ‘good’ sign on the climate agenda

Brazil to play lead role on climate change policy -environment minister

Climate change’s toll on global health increasingly getting attention

Finland’s wind power capacity increased by 75% last year

Coral species that withstand ocean warming identified

Cuban Innovator Drives Sustainable Energy Solutions – VIDEO

The climate health crisis: A call to the medical community

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that we just turned the corner on another challenging year, we wish to share here all 2022 PEAH published articles by committed top thinkers, stakeholders and academics worldwide aimed at sparking debate on how to settle the conflicting issues that still impair equitable access to health by discriminated population settings

By Daniele Dionisio*

PEAH – Policies for Equitable Access to Health

2022: A Year in Review Through PEAH Contributors’ Takes

 

As we just turned the corner on another challenging year, we wish to share here all 2022 PEAH published articles by committed top thinkers, stakeholders and academics worldwide aimed at sparking debate on how to settle the conflicting issues that still impair equitable access to health by discriminated population settings. PEAH deepest gratitude goes to all of them.

Find out below the relevant links:

The Global Status of Iodine Deficiency Disorders by Jan Werner Schultink 

Effective Reduction of Antibiotic Use in Dairy Farming through Ethnovet Medicine as Part of an Integrated Livestock Health Approach  by Katrien van’t Hooft 

Déjà Vu: Within Our Grasp by Sharman Apt Russell 

Success Stories: SUCCESS ARK by Tukashaba Felix 

How to Combat Future Pandemics by Brian Johnston 

Our Research is Completed: is There an Ethical Way to Disseminate its Findings? by Raffaella Ravinetto 

EQUITY IN GLOBAL HEALTH RESEARCH: HIGH TIME FOR FUNDING AGENCIES TO WALK THE TALK by Luchuo Engelbert Bain 

EXTRACTIVISM: THE QUIET RUINER OF HUMAN HEALTH, SETTLEMENT & BIODIVERSITIES IN UGANDA by Michael Ssemakula 

Population Aging, a Challenge for Public Health in Latin America and the World by Nicolas Castillo 

Malaria Eradication and Prevention through Innovation by Kirubel Workiye Gebretsadik 

Covid-19 and the Global South by Christiane Fischer 

A Message From Global Initiative for Environment and Reconciliation – GER Rwanda by Innocent Musore 

The Reality of Ethics and the Role of Disruptive Technologies in the Medical Data Industry: How Do They Align? by Tomas Mainil 

The Berlin Wall Between Welfare and Health in Iran: Who Gains the Health Subsidies? by Manal Etemadi 

The New Abnormal by Brian Johnston 

ONE HEALTH ONE WORLD by Kirubel Workiye Gebretsadik 

Changes in the Provision of Primary Health Care: A More Empowered Role for the Individual by Tony De Groote 

Shadow Pandemic: Women’s Health in the Time of COVID-19 by Sevil Hakimi and Laura Neenan 

Women and Water in Uganda: A One Health Social Science Approach by Aisha Nankanja, Monica Agena, and Laura C. Streichert, PhD, MPH 

Globalization and Health: Looking Backward, Looking Forward by Ted Schrecker 

Swastha Mahila Swastha Goa: A Demonstration of Implementation Science by Sumedha Kushwaha 

Multisectoral Nutrition Interventions: Impact and Transitions in Undernutrition, Stunting and Wasting in Children – An Open Experiment in Two Remote Blocks of Karnataka by Veena S Rao, Shalini Rajneesh, Chaya Degaonkar, Hanimi Reddy, S Bharadwaj 

Reflections on Transforming Higher Education for the 21st Century: PART 3 The international One Health for One Planet Education Initiative (1 HOPE) and the ‘Ecological University’ by George Lueddeke 

Reflections on Transforming Higher Education for the 21st Century: PART 2 Development of a Global ‘All Life’ Narrative by George Lueddeke 

Reflections on Transforming Higher Education for the 21st Century: PART 1 The One Health & Wellbeing Concept by George Lueddeke 

Equitable Access to Innovative Pharmaceuticals by Thomas Pogge 

Towards a Culturally Diverse Aged Care System by Nikolaus Rittinghausen 

Covid, Conspiracy-Theories, and the Struggle for Health for All by Judith Richter 

Social Innovation in Healthcare by Kirubel Workiye Gebretsadik

The Strategy of Hope by Sharman Apt Russell 

CSOs Participation in Food Security and Other Issues at FAO by Claudio Schuftan 

Social Impacts on Coral Reef Dependent Human Activities by Siga Tamufor 

Improving Maternal and Newborn Health Outcomes in Europe by Serge Moubarak 

updated: COVID-19 IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL HEALTH EQUITY by Juan E. Garay

Initiatives for Catalytic Investment for Rural Africa by Florence Gune

Improving Communities’ Livelihood, Healing and Reconciliation in Rwanda by Innocent Musore

Public Health, Climate Change and Strategic Litigation: Building a Powerful Alliance between Public Health Practitioners, Communities, and Legal Advocates by David Patterson

Virtue Ethics in the Healthcare Practice: Reflection Note by Florence Gune 

COVID-19 IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL HEALTH EQUITY by Juan Garay 

Beyond the Waives: Indirect Effects of Covid-19 on Mothers in Low and Middle-Income Countries by Sevil Hakimi 

FIND VACCINE NOW Platform: Covid Vaccine Near Me by Syed Ahmad

Planet Earth: Averting ‘A Point Of No Return’? by George Lueddeke

 

The contributions highlighted above add to PEAH internal posts published in the year. Find the links below:

2021: a Year in Review through PEAH Contributors’ Takes by Daniele Dionisio 

INTERVIEW: EndPandemics Alliance by Daniele Dionisio 

Forthcoming, India: Certificate Course on Public Nutrition, Public Health and Public Policy

Moreover, as part of PEAH scope and aims, the column titled Focus on: Uganda’s Health Issues continued to serve as an observatory of challenging health issues in Uganda from a comprehensive view encompassing the policies, strategies and practices of all involved actors. 

In the meantime, our weekly page PEAH News Flash has been serving as a one year-long point of reference for PEAH contents, while turning the spotlight on the latest challenges by trade and governments rules to the equitable access to health in resource-limited settings.

 

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*Daniele Dionisio is a member of the European Parliament Working Group on Innovation, Access to Medicines and Poverty-Related Diseases. Former director of the Infectious Disease Division at the Pistoia City Hospital (Italy), Dionisio is Head of the research project  PEAH – Policies for Equitable Access to Health. He may be reached at: danieledionisio1@gmail.com  

 

PEAH collaborates with a number of non-profit entities. These include, among others:


G2H2Geneva Global Health Hub

CEHURD – Center for Human Rights and Development

Center for the History of Global Development

Viva Salud

Asia Catalyst

MEZIS

ATTAC

Wemos

Social Medicine Portal

Health as if Everibody Counted

COHRED’s Research Fairness Initiative (RFI)

AFEW International

TranspariMED

Medicines and Ethics, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp

Alliance of Women Advocating for Change (AWAC) 

…The case of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is an example of how profitable solutions are applied to problems that have a potential for profit. It is striking that problems that should be addressed through binding regulations and/or legislation are being timidly addressed in a framework that seeks ‘cooperation’ from the industry’s and/or adhesion to ‘voluntary’ codes of conduct…

Contextually, …a number of documents promoting action on NCDs… call on the private sector to see health and nutrition as market opportunities…

 By Claudio Schuftan

Freelance Public Health Consultant and Human Rights Activist  

Co-founding member of the People’s Health Movement

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

schuftan@gmail.com

 ‘Risk Factors’ or ‘Determinants’ 

The NCDs Debate

 

Since the WHO’s adoption of the “Global Strategy on Diet and Physical Activity” in 2004, recommendations have been made concerning how populations should eat and exercise in order to reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Unfortunately, there has been a deplorable lack in emphasis on the harmful marketing practices of the food and beverages industry that determine what many of us eat. In 2012, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution endorsing the strategy and urged member states to put into practice a Comprehensive Implementation Plan (CIP) on maternal, infant and young child nutrition.

The case of non-communicable diseases is an example of how profitable solutions are applied to problems that have a potential for profit. It is striking that problems that should be addressed through binding regulations and/or legislation are being timidly addressed in a framework that seeks ‘cooperation’ from the industry’s and/or adhesion to ‘voluntary’ codes of conduct.

The 1993, World Health Report of the WHO started the trend of viewing health as a key input to increase productivity. This concept has, since attained a ‘respectable’ status in mainstream discourse. Consequently, a number of documents promoting action on NCDs have gone even further: they call on the private sector to see health and nutrition as market opportunities. Not surprisingly, the ‘hard sell’ of actions to tackle NCDs continues to skew the debate on NCDs and ignores their social and economic determinants while focusing almost exclusively on changing risk factors related to individual behaviour.

Obesity is a normal response to an abnormal environment. The more urbanised the environment, the more obesogenic pressure is exerted on its population. Asking people to make better choices while the current against them flows faster and faster, is futile as well as condescending. The environmental pressures that make the healthy choice the difficult choice mean that many people are growing up in a world where healthy behaviours are rarely encountered and they are slowly yet surely learning, practicing and reinforcing how to be unhealthy. In other words, big tobacco, alcohol, sugar, trans-fats and fast-food and beverage transnational corporations are ‘vectors of disease’ that need monitoring in the same way as other vectors in public health.

The structural causes of disease and of poverty are of no interest to the rich and powerful. On the contrary, the highlighting of these causes represents a threat to the status-quo as they address extreme and growing inequalities that bring this privileged group so many rewards both in geopolitical and economic terms. It is time to question the use of the term ‘risk factors’ in NCDs and indeed the whole concept of risk. The term tends to imply individual agency and responsibility, i.e., as if people had the ability to fully control their lives and their environment. It ignores the critical distinction between risks taken and the risks imposed by the different manipulations of the market place that result in the skewed corporate power relationships we all know about. The terms, ‘contributing factors’ or ‘determinants’ better reflect the concept of ‘risk factors imposed’. Using them to identify causal pathways, rather than ‘risk factors’ allows the real causes to be identified and analysed without prior assumptions (or subtle suggestions) about the individual, non-structural origin of the causes.

Nothing really effective is being done to stem the global epidemic of obesity and non-communicable diseases because, like Big Tobacco has done, Big Food and Big Soda control the agenda and through corrupt lobbying that ensures governments only implement programmes based on individual behaviour changes.

A more comprehensive discussion on the NCDs policy debate can be found in the piece from PHM Global Health Watch4 entitled ‘Non-communicable diseases: is big business hijacking the debate?’

 

 

News Flash Links, as part of the research project PEAH (Policies for Equitable Access to Health), aim to focus on the latest challenges by trade and governments rules to equitable access to health in resource-limited settings

Tube worm (Protula Tubularia)

News Flash 508

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