Looking ahead – and back (editorial)

Dear reader,

It’s early September, and we are heading towards an intensive period of key global health events in which the Medicus Mundi International Network is engaged. I are particularly looking forward to the jubilee of the Alma-Ata Conference and Declaration commemorated in October in Astana, Kazakhstan, with a Global Conference on Primary Health Care. As part and leader of a broader civil society consortium, MMI submitted a proposal for a conference side event on “Calling for a New Global Economic Order – the forgotten element of the Alma-Ata Declaration” – and we hope that it will be accepted by the organizers. There are more contributions to this conference in our pipeline, but not confirmed. You will hear more about the Alma-Ata Jubilee in the October issue of our Network News.

In November, the Fourth People’s Health Assembly will take place in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Six years ago, the MMI Network contributed to the Third People’s Health Assembly in Cape Town with its workshop “In the public interest? The role of NGOs in national health systems and global health policy”. The two sessions on “The challenge of integration” and “NGOs – the good, the bad and the evil?” with contributions by colleagues from ACHAP, Medicus Mundi Catalunya, medico international, CWGH and some external NGO colleagues found great interest. At the upcoming Assembly, the MMI Network and its working group on Effective Health Cooperation will organize, together with Network members and interested external partners, another workshop on international cooperation.

…and you will see in our overview, below, that there are more highly interesting events organized by MMI Network ahead.

Before all this takes our full attention, let us look back once more to the achievements of the past. We focused the last issue of our Network News on our own Annual Report and the “short stories” contributed by Network members. In the current report, we feature the Annual Reports published so far by our Network members.

Enjoy!

Thomas Schwarz, Executive Secretary
Medicus Mundi International – Network Health for All

 

MMI Network members: Annual Reports 2017

We have so far collected Annual Reports 2017 of the following MMI Network members in the “reporting” section of our ePlatform:

Our collection of reports nicely represents the diversity of our Network’s membership. As a particular challenge, this is also expressed in the diversity of the languages used in their reporting. You might cope with it by using your own multilingualism – or a translation device. English versions of some reports are expected to be available soon.

 

MMI Network and Network members: Events

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Network event: ITM Antwerp
What collective learning for Universal Health Coverage?
Antwerp, 15-17 October 2018

“This international workshop is aimed at decision-makers, practitioners, researchers and partners directly involved in the agenda of “learning for UHC in LMICs” and who are interested in a long-term commitment to the agendas that will be covered.”

>  https://www.itg.be/E/Event/what-collective-learning-for-universal-health-coverage

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Network event: ITM Antwerp
40 years after Alma-Ata: Primary Health Care in 2018 and beyond, in South and North
Antwerp, 23 October 2018

“For the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp, PHC and its underlying value basis remain a major source of inspiration for its academic work in the field of teaching, research and capacity building. The development of PHC is coherent with two current international priorities — Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals. On Tuesday 23rd of October, the ITM is organizing an international symposium on PHC with the aim to re-emphasize its relevance for health systems worldwide, but also to reflect on innovative approaches to establish effective PHC policies in a rapidly changing global environment.”

>  https://www.itg.be/E/Event/40-years-after-alma-ata

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Network event: MMI Network and members/partners
Calling for a New Global Economic Order – the forgotten element of the Alma-Ata Declaration. MMI (proposed) contribution to the Global Conference on Primary Health Care
Astana, 25-26 October 2018

In autumn, the world will come together in Astana, Kazakhstan at the Global Conference on Primary Health Care “to renew a commitment to primary health care to achieve universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals”. The Declaration of Alma-Ata (1978) called for a “New International Economic Order” to address the political and economic determinants of health. This call risks to get lost in the more diplomatic and technical approach to PHC of the Astana conference and its formal programme. Referring to a preparatory civil society workshop and statement (18 May 2018 in Geneva), the session proposed by MMI and civil society partners intends to provide reflections on economic justice, cooperation and solidarity as preconditions for PHC. Our session shall be a reminder and eye-opener that PHC cannot be just “organized” or left over to partnerships, but requires transformation beyond the health sector. (to be confirmed by mid-September)

> PHC Conference website:  http://www.who.int/primary-health/conference-phc/
> MMI announcement: http://www.medicusmundi.org/contributions/events/2018/new-global-economic-order

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Network event: Medicus Mundi Switzerland
«Health for All» by 2030: On the Right Track, or on the Verge of Failing?
Basel, 6-7 November 2018

“In the list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), health has just one universal aim: to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all, at all ages. ‘Comprehensive Primary Healthcare’ now features in the SDGs under a new name: ‘Universal Health Coverage’ (UHC). It currently remains to be seen whether the international community is willing to contribute to what is required, or if we are heading for selective UHC, as we have already seen with the implementation of selective primary healthcare.” (MMS Symposium 2018 on 7 November, with movie “A luta continua” and an open MMI Board meeting on 6 November)

>  https://www.medicusmundi.ch/en/conference/health-for-all-by-2030-on-the-right-track-or-on-the-verge-of-failing?set_language=en

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Network event: MMI Network and members/partners
In the public interest? The role of international health cooperation in strengthening or weakening national health systems.
MMI session at the 4th People’s Health Assembly
Dhaka, 15-18 November 2018

“We hope and expect to be able to provide again a space at the People’s Health Assembly for an open debate between NGOs and other social movements, between representatives of the global South and North, about what kind of solidarity, what kind of action and interaction is needed to advance Health for All.”

> PHA website: https://phmovement.org/peoples-health-assembly-dhaka/
>  MMI announcement: http://www.medicusmundi.org/contributions/events/2018/in-the-public-interest

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Network event: ITM Antwerp
Antibiotic Resistance: From Research to Action
Phnom Penh, 5-7 December 2018, 59th Colloquium of the ITM Antwerp.

“Antibiotic resistance is a global public health threat. It is a multidisciplinary challenge to communities, patients, health services, laboratories and health policies. The 59th Colloquium of the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (ITM) and its Cambodian partners will feature the latest clinical, biomedical and public health research on antibiotic resistance. Experts from the Mekong region and around the world will also discuss how this research can be translated into evidence-based policy. They will also address agricultural and livestock production practices in a “One Health” approach to contain antibiotic resistance. The Colloquium will offer a platform for researchers, health professionals and policy makers to identify how key research findings can contribute to solutions and inform policy-making.”

>  https://www.antibiotic-resistance-2018.org/

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Network event: Medicus Mundi Mediterrània (MM Spain)
International Conference on Social Determinants of Health
Maputo, 5-7 December 2018.

The Maputo conference is organized by the Mozambique country representation of MM Spain and in particular by MM Mediterrània: “To date, health research in Mozambique has been almost exclusively biomedical. However, we understand that the country faces challenges that go beyond this approach, and we cannot improve individual and collective health without a better understanding of the determinants that affect it. SDH can become an ideal theoretical and practical framework to reduce health inequities, particularly in Mozambique.”

>  http://www.medicusmundimozambique.org/en/actividades/conference-on-sdh

…and more events and announcements to come. Network members: Send your announcements to the MMI Secretariat for publication on our ePlatform and in the monthly Network News and/or share them directly with your colleagues via our “mmi-cooperate” mailing list.

MMI Network: News, reports, resources

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Network news
Medics without Vacation: Welcome to our new Network member!

“Medics without Vacation comprises about 600 doctors and nurses. During their holidays they spend two to three weeks treating patients in African hospitals. Helping people who otherwise have no chance of recovery. Every week more than two teams leave for Africa. Our teams bring bandages, instruments and medication but also medical equipment. Medics without Vacation develops long-term collaborations with partners. Our partners are hospitals and care centres in 5 African countries offering the best possible care to their patients in often difficult circumstances. We help our partners in different ways to enhance their capacities. As such we send multidisciplinary teams of volunteers who during their stay exchange knowledge and experience with their African colleagues. In the first place via on the job training: practice support at the operating table or at the sickbed.” Medics without Vacation joined MMI in July 2018. Welcome!

> http://www.medicswithoutvacation.be/

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Network news: Cordaid
Joint healthcare and humanitarian Ebola response in DR Congo

Cordaid, 8 August 2018. One week after the Ebola outbreak in the Equateur Province was declared over, a new outbreak of the deadly virus hit DR Congo. This time it emerged in the country’s conflict-ridden north-east. In North Kivu Province, Cordaid started a joint healthcare and humanitarian aid operation to address medical and sanitary needs and help contain the outbreak.

> https://www.cordaid.org/en/news/joint-healthcare-and-humanitarian-ebola-response-dr-congo/

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Network video: Community Working Group on Health
Strengthening Community Feedback Mechanisms for Improved Health Service Delivery in Zimbabwe

“This documentary produced by the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) is to showcase the work that we are doing in rural Matabeleland Provinces with support from the EU, in partnership with the MOHCC and in cooperation with the Rural District Councils.” (part 1)

> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nMPnY-PRQOGkqVYaQYKxR5PJvwmbUbPb/view?usp=drive_web

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Network reader: Medicus Mundi Switzerland
40 years after Alma-Ata: What does the future hold?

Bulletin of Medicus Mundi Switzerland, August 2018. “Can an event which occurred in the last century – more precisely, 40 years ago – still retain the strength to influence us today? Yes! The Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978 was a pivotal event which has played a decisive role in the health policy debates of the last four decades. What awaits us in the anniversary year? Does Agenda 2030 deliver the framework missing up to this point for us to reach our common goal of ‘Health for All’ by 2030?”

> https://www.medicusmundi.ch/en/bulletin/mms-bulletin/40-years-alma-ata-can-we-still-expect-something

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Network video: Cordaid
Follow the pill. Fighting HIV and TB in DR Congo

Since 2012 Cordaid has been the principal recipient of the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In close collaboration with the DRC Ministry of Health, Cordaid fights HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis in 65% of all health zones of DRCs vast territory.

“Thanks to this pill, I am alive”, Rose Bomboso says, while taking her ARV medication. Rose lives in an isolated village up north in DR Congo. She is one of many thousands of HIV/AIDS and TB patients in DRC that receive treatment thanks to Cordaid, our local partners, the DRC Ministry of Health and generous support of the Global Fund. Follow the Pill shows you what it takes to get the medication where it is needed most.

> https://www.cordaid.org/en/news/follow-pill-fighting-hiv-and-tb-in-drcongo/

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Network paper: Health Poverty Action
Changing track: putting people before corporations

“Health Poverty Action and their partners have launched a new briefing calling on governments to stop prioritizing big companies over the health and wellbeing of people. Entitled “Changing track: putting people before corporations”, the briefing details how governments around the world are allowing billions of dollars to be diverted to corporations every year at the cost of human rights and public services. We estimate that the amount of money being diverted every year amounts to over $1 trillion (or a million million). That’s enough money to fund the NHS six times over, cancel all government debt of impoverished countries or triple the money spent on healthcare for half the world’s population.

> https://www.healthpovertyaction.org/news/reclaiming-power-from-corporations/

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Network project: Doctors with Africa CUAMM
Cuamm in Central African Republic

“From July 2018, CUAMM has started to work in Central African Republic, in the Paediatric Complex of Bangui, the only public one in the country. CUAMM’s intervention will be multifaceted: supporting the Paediatric Complex, strengthening the overall local health system, providing training and capacity building to local health staff in partnership with the University, transferring competences, and assisting in the management and governance of the structure.”

> https://doctorswithafrica.org/en/whats-new/news/cuamm-in-central-african-republic/

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Network Resource: Wemos
Wemos Resources

“Do you want to know what Wemos has published on topics such as access to human resources for health or medicines? Or are you looking for reports about financing for health in low-income countries? You can find these (and much more) on our knowledge platform. Our publications on the knowledge platform all focus on our work on the topics human resources for health, financing for health, and medicines. Moreover, you will meet our global health advocates Jorge Vega Cardenas, Ella Weggen and Mariska Meurs in three short videoclips. They will not only tell about our work on these topics, but also explain why our advocacy for health for all worldwide is so crucial in times like these.” (Wemos blog, 28 August 2018)

> http://www.wemosresources.org/

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Network Resource: ITM IHP
Switching the poles

Have a look at the great weekly newsletter produced by our new Network member, the ITM IHP Network. It might help you switching your poles, too.

> http://www.internationalhealthpolicies.org/

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Network Resource: MMI
mmi-cooperate: New tool for horizontal communication within the MMI Network

A new mailing list set up by the MMI secretariat is intended to facilitate horizontal communication among the members of the Medicus Mundi International Network engaged in international health cooperation. All MMI Network members are invited to use “mmi-cooperate” to inform their colleagues about current activities and events, to enquire about opportunities for collaboration, to share key publications and resources, or to launch a conversation on a particular technical or political topic. Interested? Please get in touch with the MMI Secretariat

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Network Resource: MMI
Who works where?

MMI Network members (and their members) are invited to present an overview of their projects or individual project descriptions and reports in the “who works where” section of the MMI ePlatform.

> http://www.medicusmundi.org/news/projects

MMI Network members: Send us your contributions for the MMI website (events, news, articles, resources) and the next issue of the Network News and/or share them directly with your colleagues via our “mmi-cooperate” mailing list.

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MMI Network News

The MMI Network News are sent to you by the secretariat of Medicus Mundi International via “mmi-cooperate” mailing lists (Network members) and regular e-mail (others). Network members are invited to send us your eventual contributions for the next issue of the newsletter until 31 September 2018.