Alliance for Health holds first coordination meeting

The main motivations that led to the creation of Alliance for Health are: the existence of social inequalities in health access and its increasing commodification, the reduced availability and the realization of the need to reinforce the strategy of prima

The first coordination meeting of the Alliance for Health network took place in Maputo last Friday (12 June). This was attended by the following member-organizations: medicusmundi, N’weti – Comunicação para Saúde, Fórum Mulher, CESC - Centro de Aprendizagem e Capacitação da Sociedade Civil and OCS - Observatório do Cidadão para Transparência e Boa Governação no Sector de Saúde The meeting aimed to formally introduce Alliance for Health as a social movement and reflect on its main pillars and steps to be taken in the future.

At the meeting, Ivan Zahinos, International Relations Coordinator at medicusmundi, gave a brief context on this initiative and stated that Alliance for Health intends to work in a network to make health a right for all, in Mozambique. On the other hand, Violeta Bila, responsible person for Alliance for Health at medicusmundi, recalled the main motivations that led to the creation of this network, based on the assumption of health as a fundamental and universal right, namely: the existence of social inequalities in health access and its increasing commodification, the reduced availability and the realization of the need to reinforce the strategy of primary health care (PHC) and inattention to the approach to the social determinants of health (SDH). In short, the urgency in recognizing health as a human right and the need for collective actions to promote change and social transformation.

The meeting, which counted on the participation and interaction of all, also served to highlight the main pillars of Alliance for Health, more specifically Research, Training (School of Activism in Health) and Advocacy (Action for Health).

With the research component, the Alliance hopes to:

• Generate and share knowledge and evidence in different thematic areas related to health, based on their social determinants and a special focus on primary health care.
• Generate and share knowledge and evidence in a multidisciplinary way on health-related challenges and experiences, from a perspective of social justice and from its social, economic, cultural, political, environmental determinants, etc.
• Implement and deepen the Research Agenda of the Alliance for Health.

With the training aspect, the Alliance intends to:

• Open a presential and virtual training and capacity building space – the first School of Activism in Health (EAS).
• Increase the knowledge and capacities of Mozambican civil society (NGOs, CSOs, social movements, networks, activists, academics, artists and others) so that they can more effectively and in a coordinated manner defend the legitimate exercise of the right to health.

During the presentation, OCS demonstrated their availability to contribute to a course on Health Citizenship, CESC with a course on Social Accountability in Health and Fórum Mulher with a course on Gender Inequalities.

With the pillar of Advocacy-Action for Health, the objectives are:

• Inform, raise awareness and influence strategies and policies, through coordinated advocacy and awareness actions and campaigns, based on the evidence and knowledge acquired.
• Carry out work to defend and promote the right to health, to defend the National Health System and Primary Health Care itself, as the best strategy to build and strengthen a more just and equal health system in Mozambique.

All the actions described above will have visibility on a new website that is already under development, where, among various online formations, the Alliance for Health will provide elements and knowledge on how to do advocacy and create a campaign, also using social networks for this, with a strong approach of social activism.

The member-organizations present at this first meeting of Alliance for Health agreed to hold biweekly meetings, in order to better plan and consolidate the execution  of activities and objectives of this network, in permanent dialogue, not only with the Civil Society, but also with the health sector, users platforms and other sectors and persons interested..

As next steps, the participating organizations established the following: definition of criteria for affiliation of members and adherence to the network; the identification of possible thematic lines that could enrich the movement in the various areas of action; the elaboration of an operational plan; and the official and public launch of Alliance for Health.

Published on 16/06/2020