The author argues that the proposed Framework Convention on Global Health (FCGH) could establish a nuanced, layered, and multi-faceted regime of compliance and accountability to the right to health and strengthen accountability for the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). If legally binding, he argues that the FCGH could facilitate accountability through the courts and catalyze comprehensive domestic accountability regimes, requiring national strategies that include transparency, community and national accountability and participatory mechanisms, and an enabling environment for social empowerment. A “Right to Health Capacity Fund” could ensure resources for these strategies. Inclusive national processes could establish targets, benchmarks, and indicators consistent with FCGH guidance, with regular reporting to a treaty body, which could also hear individual cases. State reports could be required to include plans to overcome implementation gaps, subjecting the poorest performers to penalties and targeted capacity building measures. Regional special rapporteurs could facilitate compliance through regular country visits and respond to serious violations. And reaching beyond government compliance, from capacity building to the courts and contractual obligations, the author proposes that the FCGH could establish nationally enforceable right to health obligations on the private sector.
Governance and participation in health
Since the World Health Organisation declared Zika a global public health emergency in February of this year, much attention has been brought to bear on applying lessons learned during the Ebola crisis of 2014-15. This blog draws on the lessons for the health communication sector explored through a new practice briefing from BBC Media Action, Using media and communication to respond to public health emergencies - lessons learned from Ebola, and the unique role media and communications can play in effectively tackling Zika. BBC Media Action has responded to 28 humanitarian emergencies since 1994 – including Ebola. One recurring lesson has been that interventions are most effective if the formats and technologies used to communicate give affected communities a chance to participate and have a voice. This ensures that content reflects local realities, needs and concerns. People need to be told more than just what they should or should not do. They need to be engaged in a discussion around the ‘how’ and the ‘why’.
The Learning Network for Health and Human Rights is a network is a collection of 5 civil society organisations (The Women's Circle, Ikamva Labantu, Epilepsy South Africa, The Women on Farms Project and the Cape Metro Health Forum) as well as 4 higher education institutions (UCT, UWC, Maastricht University, in the Netherlands, and Warwick University in the UK). The network collaborates to explore how collective action and reflection can identify best practice with regard to using human rights to advance health issues. The work of the Learning Network seeks to operationalise the right to health as stated in South Africa’s Constitution and other international treaties and agreements. This is accomplished through a programme in which research, training and advocacy are linked to empower organisations and their members to assert rights for health. One of their latest training materials, this video explores the role of Health Committees from different perspectives – from that of a facility manager, a health care provider, health committee members and patients. It aims to enhance understanding of what Health Committees can do, what the challenges are in building effective health committees and how they can strengthen the health system.
Tech communities are booming all over Africa, says Nairobi-based Juliana Rotich, cofounder of the open-source software Ushahidi. But it remains challenging to get and stay connected in a region with frequent blackouts and spotty Internet hookups. So Rotich and friends developed BRCK, offering resilient connectivity for the developing world. Juliana Rotich is co-founder and executive director of Ushahidi, a nonprofit tech company, born in Africa, that develops free and open-source software for information collection, interactive mapping and data curation. Ushahidi builds tools for democratizing information, increasing transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories. Through Crowdmap.com, Swiftly.org and accompanying mobile applications, Ushahidi is making crowdsourcing tools available and useful. Their latest product is BRCK, a tool for resilient connectivity -- anywhere.
Photovoice is an important participatory research tool for advancing health equity. This paper critically reviews how participant voice is promoted through the photovoice process of taking and discussing photos and adding text/captions. PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases were searched from the years 2008 to 2014 and reviewed for how participant voice was (a) analysed, (b) exhibited in community forums, and (c) disseminated through published manuscripts. Of 21 studies, 13 described participant voice in the data analysis, 14 described participants’ control over exhibiting photo-texts, seven manuscripts included a comprehensive set of photo-texts, and none described participant input on choice of manuscript photo-texts. The findings indicate that photovoice designs vary in the advancement of participant voice, with the least advancement occurring in manuscript publication. The authors indicate that future photovoice researchers should expand approaches to advancing participant voice.
This is an interview with Simon Njami, a curator responsible for many exhibitions of contemporary African art gathering artists from 20 different African countries. On African photography he notes ‘Photography is necessarily contextual. First, it’s about the gaze and who is taking the picture. In Africa, it’s also a matter of re-appropriating one’s own image. The South African photographer Santu Mofokeng questions the role of humanity in his work. Africa is only 50 years old. It has done a lot to rebuild the past, live the present and look towards the future.’ On art and politics on the continent he argues ‘Egyptian artists were at the forefront of the protest before the Revolution. Senegalese young rappers launched the movement Y’en a Marre (‘Enough is enough’) in 2011...Art has a dual function....It’s a space of relative freedom’ . He raises the huge social potential of art, but also says 'Having said that, one has to tickle an elephant for a while before it starts laughing. In practice, change takes a while, even if it seems inevitable'.
Sustainable, effective and successful partnerships need to be built on mutual trust, on an explicit programme, clearly defined responsibilities, champion figures and financial resources. In this article, Dr. Kakonge outlines positive and negative factors that influence development assistance partnerships in Africa. The article notes that partnership demands creativity, compromise, commitment, consistency, flexibility and fairness. Some scholars argue that partnerships do not work when there is poor coordination relating to external assistance. . The author reviews factors that are critical in making development assistance partnerships successful in Africa.
Ban Ki-Moon’s term as UN Secretary General ends this year and already political jostling is underway ahead of the selection of the new head of the world body. There are strong indications that favour a woman candidate. And how has Africa positioned itself for the unfolding contest? A number of African female candidates with the right credentials fit to lead the UN exist. The author discusses which African candidates could be in the running and whether a candidate from Kenya might have the diplomatic weight to lobby and get elected.
The Global strategy for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health (2016–2030) recognizes that people have a central role in improving their own health. The authors propose that community participation, particularly communities working together with health services (co-production in health care), will be central for achieving the objectives of the global strategy. Community participation specifically addresses the demand to transform societies so that women, children and adolescents can realize their rights to the highest attainable standards of health and well-being. This paper examines what this implies in practice. The authors discuss three interdependent areas for action towards greater participation of the public in health: improving capabilities for individual and group participation; developing and sustaining people-centred health services; and social accountability. They outline challenges for implementation, and provide policy-makers, programme managers and practitioners with illustrative examples of the types of participatory approaches needed in each area to help achieve the health and development goals.
WHO Watch is a civil society project, coordinated by People’s Health Movement (PHM) and Medicus Mundi International, directed both to supporting WHO and holding it accountable. WHO Watch involves a team of ‘watchers’ attending WHO governing body meetings, lobbying delegates, speaking from the floor, documenting and reporting on the debate and the decisions, and preparing commentaries on each of the agenda items. These commentaries are designed to support progressive delegations (in particular from smaller countries who have only limited human resources to devote to these issues) as well as arguing for progressive outcomes. The Sixty Ninth World Health Assembly (WHA69) convened in Geneva from 23 – 28 May 2016. The Watch reports on the debates on various items, including: managing conflicts of interest in global health; maternal, infant and young child nutrition; ending childhood obesity; ageing; air pollution; the ‘sound’ management of chemicals; antimicrobial resistance; polio; managing global health emergencies; the health of migrants; lessons from Ebola in West Africa; HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs; vaccination; global health workforce issues; medicines and intellectual property.