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Why the Alliance for Health in Mozambique?
In a context where inequality and commodification are increasing, it is essential to defend health as a right in countries such as Mozambique. Despite the advances of recent years, the vast majority of Mozambique’s population continues to face many difficulties in making this right a reality.
Many factors prevent universal and quality health care from being accessible to all people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable populations. Perhaps most significant, however, is how little importance is attributed to the social determinants of health (SDoH), with ignorance of these meaning the right to health itself is vulnerable.
What we are
It is important to unite the forces of all organisations, entities, social movements, civil society, universities and scientific research institutes that consider health to be a right not a consumer good and which believe the best way to guarantee this right is through promoting public policies that address the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH). This requirement is the starting point for launching the Alliance for Health, a platform for Mozambican and international actors whose common objective is to defend the Right to Health using an SDoH approach.
To focus on public policies in Mozambique, through greater engagement and participation of citizens, so health can be a right within reach of the entire population.
We believe that, through cooperation in a network between civil society entities, businesses, public administration, universities and research centres etc., we can support improved public health policies in Mozambique using an SDoH approach, focusing on generating greater awareness of health as a fundamental human right, defending PHC and equitable access to it for everyone.
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People come first. We defend human life, dignity and equal rights of all citizens, independent of their origin, religion, political ideology or any other identifier, as fundamental and inviolable principles;
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Human rights and social justice are instruments for struggle and action as well as objectives of this network, especially the Human Right to Health and health equity, based on the principle of One Health For All;
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Policy and strategy changes should be considered a structural and gradual process;
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Actions should be taken by people and/or entities that understand health as a fundamental human right, that believe in defending PHC and public health focused on human rights whilst taking into consideration related social determinants (economic, cultural, political, environmental, gender etc.);
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The organization of this network is governed by horizontal dialogue, democratic participation and willingness to cooperate between all members, regardless of the size and amount of resources any single member may contribute towards operations.
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To establish a platform of national and international actors whose common denominator is believing and defending health as a fundamental human right and not a consumer product.
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To become a reference for research, training and defence of the Right to Health in Mozambique, with a focus on its principal determinants.
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To defend the public health system and PHC as the most equal and equitable strategy that best meets the interests and needs of the whole population.
The Alliance for Health rests on 3 main pillars:
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Research – Alliance for Health Research Agenda.
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Training – School of Health Activism (EAS).
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Advocacy – Action for Health
Who we are
An initiative by medicusmundi that acts as a host and promoter of this network of national and international actors for the defence of the right to health. medicusmundi has been positioning itself in Mozambique as an NGO that gives priority to the PHC strategy and uses an SDoH approach, in dialogue with the Government, universities and civil society.
The Alliance for Health is a network of civil society entities acting in different areas (health, education, gender, environment and others) to be established as a social movement to defend the Right to Health for the entire population of Mozambique, through sharing knowledge and evidence, training, and carrying out advocacy and awareness-raising activities.
The Alliance for Health will be organised through the combined efforts and contributions of its members, without requiring a complex structure or requiring resources that cannot be guaranteed.
Where are we going
The Alliance for Health will be a point of reference for the generation and exchange of knowledge on matters such as the Right to Health, PHC, the SDoH in Mozambique and beyond, with the aim of continuing to integrate the collective work of national and international efforts that argue health is a right for all citizens of the world and, notably, for Mozambicans.
The Alliance for Health aims to be a social movement to defend the Right to Health in Mozambique. Believing a social movement to be a form of expression of civil society, through which participating citizens seek, through collective action, to achieve various types of change in society, this movement aims to influence changes at policy and strategy level and even to the NHS budget, focusing on PHC and a SDoH perspective.