Universal Action
"We have a saying that when the over-developed North sneezes, we in the South get pneumonia," said Sylvia Estrada-Claudio, a physician, psychologist, and prominent women's health activist from the Philippines, when she spoke at Inter Pares' Annual General Meeting in April.
Sylvia described what 'pneumonia' looks like in her country, and brought a warning to Canadians about the consequences of a privatized two-tier health system, based on the experience of the Philippines. In her country, Sylvia told us, "The private system is for the rich. This effectively leaves the public system for the poor. Because it is mostly poor people who use the public system, it is badly funded and poorly managed."
Sylvia spoke with pride about Likhaan, the national women's health organization that she co-founded in the Philippines in the early 1990s, with Inter Pares' support. For Inter Pares, the presence of Sylvia in April was a profound moment in a long history of health activism. Since Inter Pares' inception, we have focused on building common cause among people in the South and in the North. In our search for common ground, health has been a consistent theme in our efforts to support women and communities. Health is also an important entry point for women to understand and organize for social justice.
Inter Pares and our counterpart organizations in Canada and around the world promote preventive and holistic approaches to women's health. In the context of confronting the social and economic conditions that undermine women's status and women's health, they support strategies that challenge patriarchy, emphasize women's equality, and assist women to meet their short-term strategic needs.
In recent years, the increased privatization of health care has placed additional burdens on women, and Inter Pares and Likhaan have worked to challenge the trend towards market-driven approaches to health care. But the challenges we all face are daunting. As Sylvia noted, the struggle in the Philippines is a manifestation of a global problem. Throughout the global South, structural adjustment policies imposed by international financial institutions have resulted in massive reductions of government investments in health and the emergence of private health services. Free trade and international harmonization policies pose serious challenges to developing and maintaining public health systems. The role of the pharmaceutical industry is also an area of concern on issues related to drug safety, profiteering, and the enormous influence that pharmaceutical companies exert on health policy and in medicalizing women's health.
Likhaan's vision for health in the Philippines includes a government-funded public health care system. Leading the campaign for universal health care are the women that Likhaan has helped to organize in the squatter areas of Manila. These women carry the burden of a failed health care system directly on their shoulders.
At the end of her speech in April, Sylvia made a passionate plea to Canadians to save our public health system and to demonstrate to the rest of the world that a public health system can work in the interest of all: "Make Canada a rebuke to those who would take away high standards and universal health care," she said. "We in the Philippines will be grateful for your victories."
For the complete version of Dr. Sylvia Estrada-Claudio's presentation to Inter Pares' 2006 AGM, "Health, Justice and Democracy," please click here.
Health Action in Canada
Canadian Health Coalition
Inter Pares supports the Canadian Health Coalition (CHC), a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting and expanding Canada's public health system. The Coalition includes representatives of senior's, women's, faith-based, nursing, health care and anti-poverty organizations from across Canada, and has, since 1979, been a powerful voice in keeping issues of universal health care in the public eye, and in promoting health services as a human right. For the 1.5 million people who visited CHC's Web site in the past year, and the provincial and territorial health coalitions and affiliates they work with, CHC is a critical source of information and health policy analysis, and a locus for coordinated action to protect Medicare. CHC is active in developing a national pharmaceutical strategy, in addressing issues of public health infrastructure and privatization, home care, and in examining the social causes of ill-health. CHC is also engaged in demanding government accountability for monitoring and reporting on the enforcement of the Canada Health Act.
For more information, visit 
www.healthcoalition.ca.
Women and Health Protection
Karen Seabrooke of Inter Pares is a member of the steering committee of Women and Health Protection (WHP), a coalition of community groups, researchers, journalists and activists concerned about the safety of pharmaceutical drugs. WHP monitors proposed changes in federal health protection legislation and examines the impact of such changes on women's health. Their documents make clear recommendations to the government, demanding that Canadian legislation truly provide "health protection."
For information on WHP's work visit www.whp-apsf.ca.
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With the support of thousands of Canadians, Inter Pares works in Canada and around the world with social change organizations who share the analysis that poverty and injustice are caused by inequities within and among nations, and who are working to promote peace, and social and economic justice in their communities and societies.
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