17-18 May 2019: Civil society meeting ahead of the 72nd World Health Assembly

The civil society meeting ahead of the Seventy-Second World Health Assembly, on 17-18 May 2019, built on a long history of civil society engagement in global health governance and policy. The meetings organized by the Geneva Global Health Hub and its working groups and members aimed at contributing to joint reflection and strategizing undertaken by civil society institutions considering themselves as “acting in the public interest”.

First meeting documents are available now. The documentation will be completed within the next days.

Friday 17 May 2019, 09.00-18.00 hrs
Ecumenical Centre (WCC Building)
Closed civil society strategy meeting

WHO, civil society and “non-State actors”:
How to deal with a difficult relationship

This full-day civil society workshop builds on a session on WHO governance at the civil society meeting in January and will focus on some particular WHO governance processes/issues:

  • Reform of WHO Governing Bodies and perspectives of a further shrinking space for civil society
  • Interaction of the new WHO leadership with various “civil society” teams and in various processes: Representation and legitimacy issues
  • WHO engagement with non-State actors, FENSA evaluation
  • Strategies of the new WHO leadership for engaging with non-State actors (“partners”) including philanthropic foundations and the private sector based on / beyond FENSA

The workshop is organized by the G2H2 working group on WHO and global health governance and financing. It shall allow deepening the analysis (what’s the problem) and moving towards strategizing and cooperating (what needs to be done, what we can do together). The workshop is closed, for civil society organizations only (G2H2 members or by invitation).

Workshop followed by a reception

Meeting documents:

“Towards a more meaningful engagement of WHO with civil society”
The drafting, publication and dissemination of this initial assessment of a report by the WHO secretariat to the 145th Session of the WHO Executive Board, 29-30 May 2019, on „WHO governance reform processes: Involvement of non-State actors“ (Document EB 145/4) have been facilitated by the G2H2 working group on WHO and global health governance and financing, in the follow-up of the Friday workshop. Find the paper here

G2H2 Working group on WHO and global health governance and financing
Website and contacts: here

Saturday 18 May 2019, 08.30-10.30 hrs
Maison des Associations
G2H2 Annual General Meeting (members only)

G2H2 members have been invited to the AGM by e-mail.
The documentation is available on Dropbox and can be ordered again at the secretariat.
See our Annual Report 2018.

Saturday 18 May 2019, 10.45-16.00 hrs
Maison des Associations
Series of public briefings and debates with invited guests

Civil society perspectives on selected global health topics:
72nd World Health Assembly and beyond

11.00-12.00 hrs
Universal Health Coverage, Privatization and Power

Universal health coverage (UHC) means “that all people and communities can use the promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship.”

There is not much to oppose to this task, though. Indeed, 40 years after Alma-Ata, Universal Health Coverage could be understood as a today’s expression of the promotion of universal access to health care. But how to get there? The dominating “multistakeholder” paradigm in the discourse on UHC tends to neglect/disguise the adverse impact of financialization, privatisation, commodification and commercialisation of health services on universal access to health care.

Therefore, how UHC is framed by UHC2030, WHO and World Bank in their preparation of the 2019 UN High-Level Meeting still needs and deserves a critical assessment.

This session was dedicated to Amit Sengupta, PHM (1958-2018).

Speakers:

  • Ana Vracar, People’s Health Movement: Universal Health Coverage, Privatization and Power
  • Baba Aye, Public Services International: Health systems in times of deregulation and privatization

Documents and references

12.00-13.00 hrs
Who cares about/for Planetary Health?

A draft “WHO global strategy on health, environment and climate change: the transformation needed to improve lives and well-being sustainably through healthy environments” will be discussed at the World Health Assembly, together with an “Global plan of action on climate change and health in small island developing States”. WHO’s work in the field of environment, climate change and health rightly acknowledges the multi-dimensional nature of the ecological crisis, and the fact that “we must live within Earth’s limits”.

But is the WHO strategy more than “active-sounding phrases that suggest action without actually delivering it”, as a civil society colleague recently stated? The World Health Organization – and civil society organizations dealing with global health – still need to prove that they care about and for planetary health, with the urgency and dedication needed.

Speakers and panellists:

  • Andrew Harmer, People’s Health Movement: Who cares about/for Planetary Health?
  • Anja Leetz, Global Climate and Health Alliance: The climate and health nexus, and the experience of building a global alliance
  • Garance Upham, Safe Observer International: Critique of the term “planetary health”
  • Maria Neira, WHO: Respondent and panellist

Documents and references

13.00-14.00 hrs
Lunch break

14.00-15.00 hrs
Fair medicine prices and expanded access for all:
What leadership and guidance can be expected from WHO?

A joint statement signed by 64 civil society organizations issued on 10 April 2019 on the occasion of the WHO’s second Fair Pricing Forum states that there cannot be fair prices of medicines without affordable access and transparency of research and development (R&D) outlays, manufacturing costs, and pricing decisions.

At the 144th Session of the WHO EB in January 2019, civil society organizations rejected WHO’s definition of “fair price” used in the draft “Road Map for Access to Medicines, Vaccines and other Health Products, 2019-2013”. The Road Map and a transparency proposal from the Italian government will be considered again at the World Health Assembly in the form of a resolution – and probably opposed by some governments and pharmaceutical companies.

What leadership can be expected from the WHO in the promotion of affordable access to medicines, and how to counter the power of the pharmaceutical lobby?

Speakers and panellists:

  • Sophie Gepp, PHM/UAEM: Fair medicine prices and expanded access for all: What leadership and guidance can be expected from WHO?
  • Thiru Balasubramaniam, Knowledge Ecology International: The Transparency Resolution
  • Mariângela Batista Galvão Simão, WHO ADG: Respondent and panellist

Documents and references

  • To be completed

15.00-16.00 hrs
How to influence the Global Action Plan on Healthy Lives
and Well-being (GAP)? The case of HRH

The Global Action Plan is an important new initiative to align global health actors to achieve SDG3 and move towards UHC. While many civil society organizations support the initiative, possibility for CSO input and strategizing on the GAP has been limited to date. As the timeline for the UN High-Level Meeting on UHC is similar to the GAP, it is timely to discuss it now. In this session, we will discuss the experience of participating in the GAP process using the example of human resources for health.

Invited speakers and panellists:

  • Lisa Seidelmann, Wemos: How to influence the Global Action Plan on Healthy Lives and Well-being? The case of Human Resources for Helath
  • Loyce Pace, GAP Civil Society Advisory Group: The GAP process from within – a civil society perspective
  • Jan Hendrik Schmitz and Jim Campbell, WHO: Respondents and panellists
  • Mariângela Batista Galvão Simão, WHO ADG: Guest panellist

Documents and references

Saturday 18 May 2019, 16.15-17.30 hrs
Closed civil society roundtables

Civil society perspectives on selected global health topics:
From analysing and sharing to strategizing and cooperating

Four parallel roundtables will compliment the series of public briefings and debates and shall allow deepening the analysis (what’s the problem) and moving towards strategizing and cooperating (what needs to be done, what we can do together). This session is closed, for civil society organizations only (G2H2 members and other contacts, by invitation)

Venue and contact: Saturday

The Saturday sessions will take place at the Maison Internationale des Associations (www.mia-ge.ch), Rue des Savoises 15, Geneva (South of Rhone river, near Plainpalais)

Register for the civil society meetings

General registration closed on 14 May, but we still have a few slots for G2H2 members and close civil society colleagues.
Contact, enquiries: G2H2 Secretariat (but no capacity to respond during the Friday workshop)