in Health as a Human Right By Audrey Lenhart, MA, MPH |
DGH board member, Audrey Lenhart, and DGH founding member Tim Holtz, represented DGH on the conference planning committee. Many DGH board members, advisory council members and friends participated in the conference.
| “The conference provided a springboard for mobilizing people around rights-based approaches to health... A major goal of this follow-up meeting is to help devise and enact the 'next steps' that will allow the themes discussed at the conference to achieve greater visibility and the necessary social mobilization to occur.” |
DGH President Jennifer Kasper spoke during the opening plenary session of the conference on a panel that included former US President Jimmy Carter and other distinguished leaders from the co-sponsoring global health and human rights organizations. Other featured speakers included the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Paul Hunt, and former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.
The conference featured concurrent sessions on a wide variety of topics pertinent to rights-based approaches to health. Ramiro Cortez, president of Asociación de Campesinos para el Desarollo Humano, DGH's partner organization in Estancia, El Salvador, was invited to the conference to share his experiences in a grassroots community organization dedicated to promoting health and other human rights related to development. His talk, "Health, Human Rights and Community Development: A Case Study from Rural El Salvador," presented with DGH advisory council member and volunteer Joel Sawady, was to a standing room only crowd and was both moving and inspirational as he described his community's struggles and successes.
DGH members were prominently featured during sessions on food security (Jen Kasper), AIDS and discrimination (Karen Leiter), mental health and human rights (Tim Holtz), documenting war crimes (Karen Leiter), substance abusers and sex workers with HIV/AIDS (Tim Holtz), and the People's Health Movement (Lanny Smith).
A workshop entitled "Health for ALL, NOW!" was organized by DGH on behalf of the USA circle of the People's Health Movement (PHM), and was one of the most well-attended events of the conference. Since DGH is the co-convener of the PHM-USA circle, the conference provided an excellent networking opportunity, both in mobilizing people around the PHM and coordinating activities between PHM-USA and groups from India, Vietnam and elsewhere.
The PHM also organized an impromptu evening of food, drink, dancing and education at the home of DGH board members and founders Clyde and Renée Smith, which was attended by over 70 people and offered an informal and fun atmosphere for conference attendees to learn more about the PHM and how to become involved in their home countries. The PHM was instrumental in urging the conference attendees to discern concrete 'next steps' in making rights-based approaches to health a force for positive social change in their communities. The need for grassroots social movements that actively promote and enact a rights-based agenda was discussed on several occasions during the conference, and the PHM seemed eager to help fulfill that need.
The conference provided a springboard for mobilizing people around rights-based approaches to health. The conference planning committee is actively working to continue the momentum through the creation of a listserve and an interactive database and website, (to be linked from http://humanrights.emory.edu). A follow-up meeting evaluating the effectiveness of the conference will take place in January 2006, and will bring together a diverse cross section of people who attended the conference. A major goal of this follow-up meeting is to help devise and enact the 'next steps' that will allow the themes discussed at the conference to achieve greater visibility and the necessary social mobilization to occur. DGH will continue to be involved with the activities that stemmed from this exciting event.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Search the DGH Web Site Now!
Legal Notice