People's Health Movement South Africa

Health for All Now

People's Health Movement South Africa offers community health activists a voice in dialogue with expert analysis. This channel offers conversations on different health related topics from a perspective that challenges inequality, and promotes health for all.

Moderator : Maaza Seyoum
Partnerships & Communications Lead African Alliance

Guests:
Dr. Githinji Gitahi
Group CEO of AMREF Health Africa

Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi
Exec Director if the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC)

Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan
Management Strategist / Movement Co-ordinator at Africans Rising

In this episode, Peter Van Heusden talks about 'What we know and don't know about this new variant" and Lauren Paremoer (PHM SA) addresses 'The politics of the new variant and vaccine apartheid.'

Moderator:
Kate Stegeman | Advocacy Coordinator Access Campaign MSF (South Africa)

Speakers:
Patrick Tippoo | Executive Director of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI) and Head of Science and innovation at Biovac (South Africa)
Sun Kim | Director, Health Policy Centre, People’s Health Institute (South Korea)
Gustavo Matta | Associate researcher in Public Health, FIOCRUZ (Brazil)

Moderator:
Prof Asha George

Guests:
Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo
Moses Mulumba
Itai Rusike

How greed and self-interest have expanded the gulf between the Global North and the Global South and given rise to VACCINE APARTHEID and VACCINE INEQUITY.

Moderator: Maaza Seyoum
Partnerships & Communications
Lead: African Alliance

Guests:
Dr Kamran Abbasi
British Medical Journal - Executive Editor for Content

Dr Fifa Rahman
Civil Society Representative, Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, representing Health Poverty Action

Dr Peter Singer
Special Advisor to the Director General at World Health Organization

Fatima Hassan
Director: Health Justice Initiative

Moderator:
Prof. Leslie London | UCT & PHM SA

Panelists:
Candice Sehoma - Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF);
Prof Rodrigo Uprimny – National Univ of Columbia. Member of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
Prof. Yousuf Abdoola Vawda - Univ of KZN

During the pandemic, we have sharply highlighted the inequitable access to care and prevention for COVID-19, and the terrible impact that has had on the health of the most vulnerable in South Africa.

The inequity in the response to COVID-19 reflects the highly unequal and divided South Africa care system even prior to this.…

Our experiences in Community Monitoring on C19

In this episode:
Facilitated by: Dr Lauren Paremoer, member of PHM SA
Speakers:
Bongelane Nene - Community monitor from Gauteng
Caroline Mshengo - Community monitor from Mpumalanga
Noluthando Nontobeko Mhlongo - Community monitor from KwaZulu Natal
Dr Theresa Mwesigwa - DoH

EACT is a civil society coalition working together towards equitable access to C19 technologies. Part of the work was conducting community monitoring activities towards acmes and adherence C19 preventative measures, access to C19 vaccines and community sentiments towards C19…

Since the pandemic was declared by the WHO, there has been a rush to try to find ways to stop the virus. The production of a vaccine that would help both to get immunity, as well as manage the symptoms of the disease. But the race for vaccine is a complicated one. We live in a world dominated by Big Pharma, and there is a competing interest of the health of the global population, and profit. Vaccines are patented, strict and limited production is imposed, and highest bidder comes first. Vaccine apartheid or nationalism was a term coined due to the inequality in distribution to developing…

In this episode we discuss overcoming barriers to medicines, vaccines, and medical tools for cancer, diabetes, HIV and TB, as well as COVID-19.

This is even more important as the World Trade Organisation's TRIPS council meets to discuss the proposal by South Africa.

International Solidarity for the TRIPS Waiver

Moderator: Kate Stegeman | Advocacy coordinator, MSF Access Campaign, South Africa

This seminar was a platform to share the actions of Civil Society in response to an attempt by Solidarity and Afriforum to promote private procurement and distribution of vaccines for COVID-19 in SA.

Solidarity and Afriforum lodged court papers to compel government to allow the private sector, NGOs and provinces to procure and distribute vaccines independent of government. The Health Justice initiative applied to be an Amicus Curiae (friend of the court) and would have brought evidence as to why such as case, were it to be successful, would have disastrous effects for an equitable and…

This webinar was organised and hosted by the International Labour, Research and Information Group (ILRIG) on 25th February 2021.

Moderated by Dr. Dale McKinley from ILRIG, the three panelists were:
Fatima Hassan - Health Justice Initiative
Dr. Lydia Cairncross - People’s Health Movement
Dr. Benjamin Kagina - Vaccines for Africa Initiative

The panelists covered a lot of ground, focusing among other things on:
the global picture of vaccine distribution, financing and inequalities;
the South African specific situation with vaccine procurement and roll out plans; and
the key sources of and…

Speakers
Dr. James van Duuren | PHMSA)
Prof. Leslie London | PHMSA
Fatima Hassan | Health Justice International

What is a vaccine?
What is a Covid-19 vaccine?
How to debunk vaccine myths?
What is a patent?
What is the role of community health workers?
What can we learn from the HIV access to medicines campaign?

All these, and more, are answered in plain normal language in this podcast.

Speakers
> Prof. Leslie London | UCT and People’s Health Movement
> Dr. James Van Duuren | People’s Health Movement

This episode presents the situational analysis conducted in October 2020 to gain insight into the current situation with respect to access to quality health technologies (PPE, diagnostic tests, ventilators) for COVID-19 in South Africa, as well as potential barriers and enablers to access to health technologies currently under development (vaccines, treatments).

The situational analysis further sought to understand how regulatory frameworks, health financing, local manufacturing capacity and domestic research activities impact/may impact health technology access in the country.

Facilitator…

For NGOs, CBOs and cash-strapped governments, it is very easy to be seduced into taking money from anyone who is willing to provide it, especially if it will make a difference to whether or not you are able to carry out your programmes. But should you? Even if you have few viable alternatives? This is a very real dilemma faced by the non-profit sector and, to a lesser extent, government departments in South Africa and globally.

We have assembled an international panel of public health researchers and practitioners to talk about this specifically in relation to alcohol advocacy work. The…

The current COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated challenges for the vulnerable and disadvantaged in accessing healthy and nutritious food.

The People's Health Movement South Africa hosted a webinar to explore more on the challenges and possible solutions.

Speakers
> Roshila Nair
> Phumeza Macwili
> Professor Thandi Puoane

A space to hear the voices of people living through the Covid 19 experience in different scenarios and bearing witness to the suffering and to learn from these lived experience as to how we need shape future interventions and strengthen our healthcare system to deal with a medical emergency or pandemic more effectively.

a. Recovered Covid 19 patient Nothemba Rixana shared her story of getting Covid and then also losing her husband due to Covid. This powerful story speaks to the emotional impact of the illness on individual and communities and the role that he stigma plays in the emotional…

This webinar was about struggle tactics used by the Gauteng CHWs who were recently offered permanent contracts by the Gauteng Health Department.

The battle to archive permanent employment was not easy for them. It's been a winding road for our comrades in Gauteng. However, they did not give up. The struggle started when they were still employed by NGOs. They fought to be absorbed by the department; instead, the Department contracted them under Smart Purse. They continued to fight the National and the Provincial Departments tooth and nail in the Courts, on the streets and by occupying the…

Our experiences In the fight against Covid-19

Speakers
> Nthombethemba Maduna - SACWF Chairperson
> Bongelani Nene - Chiawelo CHWS
> Bulelwa Faltein - EC SACWF
> Noluthando Mhlongo - CHW KZN

A conversation early in the COVID 19 pandemic in South Africa listening to stakeholders talking about sexual and reproductive justice and what it means.

This includes perspectives of SRJC members including an abortion provider and health manager, sex worker, and queer health manager.

This podcast took place during lockdown and tracked the heightened vulnerabilities being experienced. A central message was the common experience that there are no single issues and that there is a web of compounded and intersecting challenges facing women in particular. Yet this is heightened by how one is…

Infodemiology and how to overcome bad messages with real information

While the Covid 19 virus is spreading, so is false information about the pandemic. President Trump’s lies, conspiracy theories and misunderstandings in communities throughout SA can all cause confusion and worsen the C19 crisis.

The World Health Organisation defines “Infodemiology” as the study of the spread of information and misinformation in a pandemic. This webinar explores the difficulties of communicating truthful information about Covid, and what to do about it.

SPEAKERS
> Marion Stevens from SRJC
> Peter Benjamin…

There is a lot of stigma in communities around COVID-19 cases. We hosted this webinar to address some of the stigma challenges and take lessons from HIV. The speakers spoke from their personal experience being C19 survivors, their struggle and where they found support.

Speakers
> Ncedisa Qabazi MCSJ
> Lebogang Ramafoko Tekano
> Bevil Lucas Reclaim the City Spoke as an activist and C19 survivor

Listen to the webinar.

PHM-SA held a webinar on 26th June to explore the challenges facing Civil Society in ensuring equity and justice in Access to new Health Technologies for COVID-19.

The webinar had two inputs. Yousuf Veriawa from UKZN mapped the Intellectual Property (IP) environment in South Africa and the important policy challenges and changes needed to ensure that the regulatory framework promoted the right of access to needed technologies. KM Gopakumar from the Third World Network sketched the global context for health technologies as a public good, identifying some of the key…