Health Justice

Disabled Southerners Are Building New Paths To Grassroots Power

October 31, 2023 Justin A. Davis, Waging Nonviolence. Organize! Disability Rights, Health Justice, Joe Biden, The South

Alongside some of this moment’s biggest grassroots struggles — mass movements to transform American policing, labor, health care and voting rights — the fight against ableism has been a constant undercurrent. During the late 20th century, the disability rights movement emerged in tandem with the long civil rights movement, leading to major reforms at the federal level. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, formally banned discrimination against disabled people in employment, public services and commerce — a watershed moment for anti-ableism work.

Scotland: Social Movements Build Unity In The Struggle For Health Equity

June 15, 2023 Peoples Health Dispatch, People's Dispatch. Organize! Health Care, Health Justice, Scotland

Health inequalities in Scotland are getting worse. The Scottish Government has an array of policies which suggest its apparent concern, but these have made little or no difference in practice. In the face of this, community groups and civil society organizations have been working hard to raise awareness about the causes of health iniquity and to identify solutions that could make a significant and lasting difference. While doing so, however, often they have been campaigning in isolation from one another. Concerned about the apparent fragmentation of the vital work that is going on, the People’s Health Movement (PHM) Scotland hosted a People’s Health Assembly on June 10, 2023 at Civic House in Glasgow.

Our Fight Is For The Right To Health, Not For Charity And Mercy

April 9, 2023 Sharad Onta, People's Dispatch. Strategize! Health Care, Health Justice, Human Rights, World Health Day

When the concept of equity in health was conceived at the International Conference on Primary Health Care in 1978 – resulting in the Declaration of Alma Ata – the world was experiencing the initial phase of globalization. At the time, the implementation of the principles of Primary Health Care faced the challenges of structural adjustment in health care systems in many countries. By the mid-90s, the process of making health policies was completely overtaken by the values pushed in the structural adjustment. Among other things, investing in health was reduced to a market opportunity, and thus used to justify and promote privatization in the health sector.

World Health Day 2023: Continuing The Struggle For Health

April 8, 2023 Deepika Joshi and Leonardo Mattos, People's Dispatch. Resist! Health Care, Health Justice, Privatization, World Health Day

The celebration of the 75th World Health Day this April 7, amidst the WHO’s call for “health equity in face of unprecedented threats”, is yet another reminder of how we find ourselves in a bleaker world than we hoped when the World Health Organization was first formed. As poverty rates grow, global health inequities and inequalities between countries have been exacerbated in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The failure to learn from the pandemic, or to respond to the climate crisis, doesn’t seem to fuel a sense of urgency among the international community, especially countries in the Global North. Sexual health and reproductive rights continue to be stripped away.

Health Justice And Black Liberation: Dána-Ain Davis

October 18, 2020 Gwendolyn Wallace and Roberto Sirvent, Black Agenda Report. Create! Black Liberation, Health Care, Health Justice, State Violence

It is not only that state violence is a public health issue, but what I want people to understand is that state violence bleeds into particular public health issues—specifically, reproductive health issues. It is parastatal violence as well, by which I mean those practices and institutions that work in parallel and intersecting ways with the state. Think about this: some of the research I did for my book Reproductive Injustice shows both subtle and blatant examples of state and...

Health Justice And Black Liberation: Ugo Edu

October 4, 2020 Gwendolyn Wallace and Roberto Sirvent, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Black Liberation, health, Health Justice, State Violence

I remember always wanting to be a doctor—perhaps because my parents are Nigerian—and having a genuine concern with people’s health. I soon became disillusioned with treatment and the competition that entailed pre-med education as an undergrad at UCLA. Nonetheless, I decided public health better suited my interest and desire to develop preventive interventions. Public health left out too many factors to be the only means by which I felt I could contribute to health—I decided to study medical anthropology, simultaneously exploring other disciplinary offerings. My current work draws on all these aspects of my academic trajectory.

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