The Open University and Southampton University, South African SAIIA FLACSO-Argentina and UNU-CRIS are currently involved in the Poverty Reduction and Regional Integration (PRARI) project, a two year project studying what regional institutional practices and methods of regional policy formation are conducive to the emergence of embedded pro-poor health strategies, and what can national, regional and international actors do to promote these, particularly in South America and Southern Africa.
Values, Policies and Rights
Poverty Reduction and Regional Integration: A comparative analysis of SADC and UNASUR health policies (PRARI)
Open University, FLASCO, SAIIA, UNU-CRIS:
Press release on prosecution of SGBC in Uganda
Kwagala P: Centre for Health, Human Rights & Development, 2018
In August 2018, the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), Nnamala Mary and Simon Kakeeto took the Government of Uganda to the Constitutional Court for failing to put in place shelters for women who have been raped or defiled. CEHURD challenged the unequal punishments that the law provides for sexual offenders as being unjust. Men charged with rape are liable to suffer a maximum penalty of death whereas the law provides for the offense of ‘defilement’ for persons between the ages of 14-17 and sexual offenders against girls of that category are only given a few years of a jail term. This difference in penalties towards perpetrators who commit the same offense was argued to be unjust and to offend the principle of equality and non-discrimination before the law. It was also observed to have an effect of increasing sexual violence against girls in that particular age group. Women who survive sexual violence need safe spaces, shelters and refuge. The Ugandan Constitution mandates the State to put in place facilities to enhance the welfare of women to enable them to realise their full potential and advancement. It was thus CEHURD's contention that failure by government to construct and finance these shelters is a clear violation of women’s rights guaranteed under article 33(2) of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda.
Press Release on the Settlement Agreement of the TB/Silicosis Compensation Class Suit
Botswana Labour Migrants Association: Botswana, May 2018
Botswana Labour Migrants Association and its members from all the four corners of Botswana, present a press release reporting the news of the finalization of the TB/Silicosis class action, by way of a settlement agreement between mineworkers and the mining companies. The settlement ceremony which was held on the 3 May 2018 in South Africa, was reported in the press release to be groundbreaking and a vindication of the dues, sweat and rights of ex-miners in the region, their spouses and children and especially the efforts of the Association and its leadership..
Further details: /newsletter/id/63446
Prevalence and correlates of being bullied among in-school adolescents in Malawi: results from the 2009 Global School-Based Health Survey
Kubwalo HW, Muula AS, Siziya S, Pasupulati S and Rudatsikira E: Malawi Medical Journal 25(1): 12-14, 2013
This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of self-reported bullying and its personal and social correlates through a secondary analysis of the 2009 Malawi School-Based Student Health Survey. A total of 2,264 in-school adolescents participated. Just under half (44.5%) reported having been bullied in the previous month to the survey (44.1% among boys versus 44.9% among girls). Compared to adolescents of age 16 years or older, those who were 12 years old or younger and those who were 14 years of age were more likely to be bullied. The other risk factors that were identified in the analysis were loneliness and being worried. Adolescents who had no close friends were 14% more likely to be reporting bullied compared to adolescents who reported having close friends. Adolescents who smoked cigarettes were more than three times more likely to reporting be bullied compared to non-smokers, while those who drank alcohol were more than twice as likely to be bullied as adolescents who did not take alcohol. Health workers caring for adolescents should be sensitised to the frequent occurrence of bullying and to its correlates and consequences.
Preventing and punishing sexual violence: The work of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region
Ndinga-Muvumba A: African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, Policy and Practice, Brief 17, August 2012
The International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) seeks to coordinate the efforts of a regional security community while simultaneously addressing the difficult and deep-rooted problems of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in its eleven member states. However, according to the author of this brief, the ICGLR’s 2011 Kampala Declaration on SGBV puts forward the right decisions, but with too many unrealistic timeframes. If the ICGLR tries to implement all 19 decisions from the summit simultaneously, it runs the risk of trying to implement too much, in too short a timeframe. The author argues that the ICGLR and its member states should rather focus on strengthening justice mechanisms at the national and local levels, as well as increase and enhance national and local competencies to investigate, police, prosecute and punish perpetrators of SGBV. Such efforts must be aligned with a second overall ambition of reducing stigma and assisting survivors. Justice and ending stigma are vital to future prevention and punishment efforts.
Primary health care is where the battle for health will be won or lost
Third World Network: TWN Information Service on Health Issues 19/10, May 2019
In his address to the 72nd session of the World Health Assembly, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that strong primary health care is the front-line in defending the right to health, including sexual and reproductive rights. According to WHO, the “triple billion” targets that are at the heart of its strategic plan for the next five years are: one billion more people benefiting from universal health coverage (UHC); one billion more people better protected from health emergencies; and one billion more people enjoying better health and well-being. Dr Tedros cited various initiatives in countries that demonstrate progress and new normative products developed by WHO that are being used globally to protect and promote health. He highlighted three priorities that must guide discussions to make advances in primary health care: health is about political leadership; health is about partnership; and health is about people.
Priority-setting for achieving universal health coverage
Chalkidou K; Glassman A; Marten R; Vega J; Teerawattananon Y; Tritasavit N; Gyansa-Lutterodt M; Seiter A; Kieny M; Hofman K; Culyer A: B: Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 94(6), 405-480, 2016
Governments in low- and middle-income countries are legitimising the implementation of universal health coverage (UHC), following a United Nation’s resolution on UHC in 2012 and its reinforcement in the sustainable development goals set in 2015. UHC will differ in each country depending on country contexts and needs, as well as demand and supply in health care. Therefore, fundamental issues such as objectives, users and cost–effectiveness of UHC have been raised by policy-makers and stakeholders. While priority-setting is done on a daily basis by health authorities – implicitly or explicitly – it has not been made clear how priority-setting for UHC should be conducted. The authors provide justification for explicit health priority-setting and guidance to countries on how to set priorities for UHC.
Progress can kill
Survival International: 2010
According to this report, forcing 'development' or 'progress' on indigenous people does not make them happier or healthier. The authors argue that indigenous peoples' well-being is primarily affected by whether their land rights are respected. Where this is not the case, and where indigenous people are not given a role in guiding development actions, they suffer poorer health outcomes, with increased rates of obesity and malnutrition, drug addiction, alcoholism, and with a change to Western diets, diabetes. The report links identity, freedom and mental health and argues that mental health problems, notably suicide, increase dramatically when a group’s identity and freedom is taken away.
Progress on human rights requires stronger institutions
Robinson M and Tutu D: e-CIVICUS 419, 10 December 2008
Sixty years ago this week, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first international proclamation of the inherent dignity and equal rights of all people. Yet the Declaration’s enlightened vision of individual freedom, social protection, economic opportunity and duty to community is still unfulfilled. Genocide, torture, domestic violence and discrimination in employment are a daily reality. Above all, poverty is our greatest shame. At least one billion very poor people, 20% of humanity, are daily denied basic rights to adequate food and clean water. As long as gross inequalities between rich and poor persist, it is not possible to claim to be making adequate progress toward fulfilling the ambitions set down 60 years ago. In marking this anniversary, the question raised is how to protect the dignity and equal rights of all.
Progress towards gender equity in SADC - The draft SADC Protocol on Gender and Development
Phiri P, 2007
Governments in southern Africa are moving with zeal to address social challenges faced by women. The SADC member states view education for women and girls as a sticking point for achieving this cause. For this reason, an ambitious leap to put together the SADC gender protocol is on course.