THE PEOPLE’S HEALTH MOVEMENT AND THE 
SOUTH AFRICAN “RIGHT TO HEALTH CAMPAIGN”

 

Why Do We Need a Right to Health Campaign?

Who Should Be Involved in the Right to Health Campaign?

Health and illness are not just the result of healthcare services. They result from policies, both local and global, that affect people’s access to healthy food, clean water, decent sanitation, adequate housing/shelter, steady employment and proper health information. In short, our poor health status is a reflection of a ‘diseased society’, one in which insufficient priority is given to human well-being.  
 
Because health is determined by so many factors outside the health services, we need a campaign led by civil society, including many sectors required for the health of communities such as health, water, land, housing, education, labour, etc.  In fact, PHM has long been working with NGOs and social movements in other sectors that seek to secure healthier environments, workplaces, and communities.   
 

What is the Purpose of the Right to Health Campaign?

To raise awareness in South Africa of what constitutes health: not only health services but also the range of basic services and relationships that are the determinants of good health
To strengthen civil society organizations and build strong partnerships with trade unions
To create a platform for health workers to discuss working conditions and other challenges
To enable communities and ordinary South Africans to have a meaningful say in the development, implementation and monitoring of policies.  
To enable South African organizations to link with international networks of like-minded health
groups, building international solidarity and capacity to advance the right to health.
To give meaning to the right to participation by giving people a voice. 
To urge government to create a sustainable health system that gives substance to recent charters and declarations (Batho Pele, Health Charter and the Patient Rights Charter).

 

What is the “Right to Health”?

As part of South Africa’s constitutional commitment to realizing rights, the promotion of the right to health is a key obligation for the state. Health is one of a number of socio-economic rights, all dependent on each other and essential for human well-being and development. Unfortunately, in South Africa, there is a large gap between the human rights provisions in the constitution and what is happening on the ground. 
 
A campaign that focuses on the right to health will help to identify system failures, secure redress for those unfairly treated, prevent future abuses from taking place and show case positive experiences. We believe a Right to Health campaign can build a health system that helps all people in South Africa realize their human potential.
 

What Will the Right to Health Campaign Do?

The Right to Health Campaign will draw from the extremely successful campaign in India where public hearings, often in very simple community settings, gave community members the chance to give testimony of their experiences of the health services and of the violation of their right to health.
 
The campaign will be driven by NGOs, with key leaders as patrons, and supplemented with extensive media coverage (radio, print, TV). We will solicit testimony from ordinary South Africans who experienced violations of their right to health as well as positive experiences that advance the right to health. Our activities will include:
 
• Hearings & testimonies, both of violations and of positive experiences in realising the right to health
from users of health care, community members, health workers and others.
• Surveys of working conditions, staff morale, motivation and human resource migration. 
• Materials development on the ‘Right to Health’ in the form of pamphlets, manuals, etc.
• Education regarding the right to health and the broader determinants of health;
• Discussing progress on the Right to Health campaign in South Africa and elsewhere.
• Research and Analysis – to monitor accountability and significant improvements
 
We are especially interested in working in the following areas to promote the right to health: 
 
• Children, the elderly, the disabled and other vulnerable groups
• Domestic violence
• HIV/AIDS 
• Transport and obstacles for access 
• Housing, land rights activism;
• Social security and grants.
• Environmental issues: garbage collection; safe water and sanitation
• Impact of alcohol on children and communities
• The situation faced by Health Workers themselves and human resources in health
• Right to information