The commitment toward achieving universal coverage understood as access to quality, individualized healthcare for all, in a human rights framework, has been profiled as the Goal of the Post 2015 Development Agenda on the topic of Health.
For this reason, the Pan American Health Organization proposed a consultation of the key social actors in this process and to hear their voices. The present document summarizes the debate and the agreements assumed by the representatives of civil society organizations, municipal authorities or mayors, indigenous authorities, afro descendants, and other civil society representatives.
We have maintained a profound debate with the participants with respect to the five themes and we have jointly concluded and agreed on the following points:
1- The Millennium Development Goals must be redrawn and analyzed from the perspective of their achievements and shortcomings at the subnational level, and not only using national averages. For this reason, a new agenda cannot be planned without giving continuity and resolution to these commitments. It is necessary to undertake an evaluation with the participation of different actors to provide an explanation for the investments and results.
2- The guarantee of the right to health should be materialized through the creation of a unique universal public health system that has the components of equity, quality, inter-culturality, cultural and linguistic belonging, integrality, gratuity, opportunity, humanity and accessibility and incorporates criteria of differential focus.
The actions of the States should not be limited to the personal health services. They should also cover the focus of the social determinants of health, strengthen the actions of promotion and prevention under the concept of Primary Health Service.
In relation to the present call referred to as Universal Health Coverage and Post 2015 MDG, we consider that it should not be based on criteria of assurance because it does not guarantee equity, integrality, universality, or the respect of rights.
A special emphasis is placed on the fact that gender should be present in all components of services.
3- Social Participation: Another urgent consideration is citizen participation, of indigenous communities and afro descendants should participate in decision-making throughout the entire health policy cycle, its participation should be binding and the governments should give it a legal framework that guarantees said participation in the perspective of creating unique public and universal health systems.
4. Financial Aspect:
The states are guarantors of the rights; therefore, they should guarantee public funding through equitable and progressive tax systems (“those that have more should pay more”) and regular payments with defined, stable, results-driven flows.
In order for all of this to be possible it is fundamental that there be a system of alliances between different levels of the State, the local space being of special relevance, social organizations, indigenous communities and communities of afro descendants.
5. In relation to the ruling model of development that international agencies and some States sell, we propose a development model for life under the paradigm of Live Well or Good Life that is contrary to competition and advocates a decent life of complementarity and solidarity.
The attending members of this consultation:
Recommend:
• Democratizing the debate for a new development agenda, opening all of the spaces of analysis and possible discussions for the adoption of goals post 2015 with the main participation of villages (faces, voices, and wisdom), avoiding said process from solely representing the interests and outlooks of technical, bureaucratic, and economic groups.
• Working with the interior of countries to influence national governments so that its communities’ and villages’ positioning and outlooks are reflected at the international level.
• Promoting alliances with local governments, communities, indigenous communities, and civil society organizations to achieve the necessary leaderships with the goal of demanding of the central government what is necessary to ensure the right to health.
• We are calling to the universities to redraw educational/training curricula for health workers to orient them toward the right to health, transcending the concept of health through goods and biomedicine.
• Driving the process of administrative decentralization and the competitions to the local governments with the transfer of resources, under the responsibility and rectory of the national government through component ministries.
• Strengthening the rectory and regulation of the State, establishing its responsibility, above all of the healthcare system, avoiding the commercialization of health and of life.
Antigua Guatemala, 13 February 2013