“The world fails nearly 20 million people every year, and fails billions more people whose lives are shattered by want and deprivation. To address at least a part of this injustice, we are launching a global campaign grounded in the human right to health, where governments assure the conditions in which everyone can be healthy. Recognizing the strength of existing international law, yet how hard it is to utilize by the people who most need to assert their rights, we are calling for a Framework Convention on Global Health to give true force to international law and extend its reach into the communities where we live, to create the conditions for health and wellbeing for everyone.” (manifesto)

A few years ago, a group of dedicated individuals and organizations created the “Joint Action and Learning Initiative on National and Global Responsibilities for Health” (JALI). The initiative has seeked to “deepen the recognition among people and governments in all regions of the world of our mutual responsibilities for improving the health of the world’s population, especially the poorest and most disadvantaged people, and clarify these responsibilities.” In particular, JALI has begun a process of research and consultations to investigate the potential for and nature of what we are calling a Framework Convention on Global Health (FCGH).

At a conference at the Bellagio Center, in February 2012, the JALI group decided to launch a global campaign for a Framework Convention on Global Health and therefore drafted the manifesto “Health for All: Justice for All”. The manifesto highlights the present historic opportunity for advancing the right to health and resolving today’s immense health inequities. It lays out key principles that an FCGH should incorporate, calls for these principles to be incorporated into the post-MDG framework, and emphasizes that the path towards an FCGH begins with communities, civil society, and all those committed to health and dignity for all:

“We invite all those committed to health justice to join us in a Global Campaign for an FCGH to construct a treaty that meets the needs of communities while dismantling the barriers to health justice, to generate the political will to adopt and implement an FCGH, and to hold governments – and all those with obligations for health justice – accountable to their commitments – those they have already made, and those contained in an FCGH. We are dedicated to work together to capture the historic opportunity for change that is now before us. We will continue to organize and campaign for as long as it takes to achieve the highest standard of physical and mental health for all. The health of the world depends upon it.” (manifesto)

  • Manifesto: Health for All: Justice for All – A Global Campaign for a Framework Convention on Global Health
    JALI, May 2012
    www.jalihealth.org/take-action.html
  • Demanding implementation of the right to health – what next?
    Mark Heywood, 3rd People’s Health Assembly, July 2012
    ppt slides as pdf

The executive secretary of the Medicus Mundi International Network participated in the Ballagio conference, contributed to the drafting of the manifesto and endorsed it afterwards on behalf of MMI. Network members and partners are invited to have a look at the manifesto, sign it individually, and get involved in the campaign for a Framework Convention on Global Health.

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