Both PHM Europe, the European Network and Alter Summit have already expressed their support for many of the campaigns being run for equitable and fair access to Covid19 related technologies and medical products, including vaccines, around the world, and for the past few months we have been working closely with the organisation committee of the European Citizens’ Initiative Right to Cure. The aim of the initiative is forcing the European Commission to treat Covid19 vaccines as a public good, therefore taking a different approach to their negotiations with Big Pharma, and supporting mechanisms that can lead to vaccines being available all over the world, and not only in rich countries.
CAMPAIGN DEMANDS
As the collection of signatures for he European Citizens’ Initiative Right to Cure will be ongoing on 7 April, in Europe we will organise actions related to the 4 demands of the initiative:
1 — Health for all
We all have a right to health. In a pandemic, research and technologies should be shared broadly, fast, across the globe. A private company shouldn’t have the power to decide who has access to treatments or vaccines and at what price. Patents provide one single company with the monopoly control over essential pharmaceutical products. This limits their availability and increases their cost to those who need them.
2 — Transparency now!
Data on production costs, public contributions and the effectiveness and safety of vaccines and medicines should be public. Contracts between public authorities and pharmaceutical companies must be made public.
3 — Public money, public control
Taxpayers paid for the research and development of vaccines and treatments. What has been paid for by the people should remain in people’s hands. We cannot allow big pharmaceutical companies to privatize crucial health technologies that have been developed with public resources.
4 — No profit on pandemic
Big pharmaceutical companies should not profit from this pandemic at the expense of people’s health. A collective threat requires solidarity, not private profiteering. Public funds should always come with guarantees on availability and affordability. Big Pharma shouldn’t be allowed to plunder social security systems.
Naturally, we are aware that the pandemic has affected different countries/ regions in different ways, and we don’t expect all actions to be related to these four topics only. Some prefer to focus on the transparency argument, others go further to ask for generally imposing a fair price on medicines/vaccines (taking into account production costs and public investment), some want to make the link to the underfinacing of the health sector such as public hospitals and social insurance. Organizing to show the importance of social determinants of health, health workers’ working conditions, and people’s participation in health systems remains as important as ever - and we would like to map all such actions to show that people all over the world are ready to mobilize to achieve a fairer world in the aftermath of Covid19.
So, if you are planning to do something on or around 7 April, we would love to hear about it - please follow the details below to share your plans, and don’t hesitate to be in touch in case of any questions.
TARGET
We target the European Commission and governments, institutions and policymakers who have a say into decision on trade /intellectual property and health AND secondly also the public by awareness raising on why the demands are necessary so public outrage is created on the basis of facts and refer to the petition to sign as well other organisations to join the coalition and support the demands.
HOW TO JOIN THE CAMPAIGN
Join us by adding the details of your action or event on the interactive map* available here:
#Health4All: 7 April 2021 actions, or by e-mailing the information to sarahderdelinckxpass@gmail.com, ana@phmovement.org or sebastian@altersummit.eu.
We call everybody to show their support for our call for " no profit on pandemic" action on 7 April
1. Write your message on a white sheet and hang it in a visible place out of your window
2. Take pictures of it
3. Share your pictures on social media with the hashtag #health4all, #noprofitonpandemic and #action4health (+ in Europe: #Right2Cure)
Don’t forget to share your photos and videos with us through social media by using
#health4all, #noprofitonpandemic and #action4health!
More information on this and other actions (informative video, press release, physical action respecting social distancing, mask/pin to show support etc.) will be found on the European Network’s website over the coming weeks: http://europe-health-network.net/.
* We are critically aware that this map does not recognise Palestine, we strongly condemn this fact and commit to develop a new map recognising Palestine for all future mobilisations