Sierra Leone Telegraph: 24 October 2024:
The Commonwealth People’s Forum – the largest gathering of civil society in the Commonwealth – convened leading experts on public health and contagious disease to discuss how to improve healthcare quality and access for communities across the globe.
Health specialists, indigenous-community health advocates, and advisors to the World Health Organisation, came together at the Commonwealth People’s Forum in Apia, Samoa on Tuesday, 22 October to discuss how the coalition of 56 Commonwealth Member States can work to advance health justice.
It’s the first time Commonwealth civil society has convened in a Pacific island state. The discussion focused on improving access to quality care in some of the world’s most marginalised and underserved communities.
Advocates agreed that the global community must move from research to action. They noted that the burden of a weak health system falls on the most vulnerable and that the Commonwealth must assist Member States to deliver care that meets the needs of communities.
Abi Begho the Founder of Lake Health and Wellbeing (LHW), an NGO based in St Kitts and Nevis said: “We need restorative health justice that addresses the historic and systemic roots of health inequalities, to restore, repair and heal our people.”
“We have an implementation problem. We know the issues, we know the solutions, we’ve done the research, and yet we’re still here today. We need the Commonwealth to support the government to implement policy, legislation and interventions.”
Sir Collin Fonotau Tukuitonga, a prominent Niuean-born New Zealand doctor and public health advocate said: “We keep talking about the same thing: those who need the most get the least. When will that change? Health equity means some groups in society who require more resources to get the care and quality they need.”
Mataafa Faatino Utumapu, a blind Samoan disability rights activist, said: “It’s good to have healthcare frameworks. But frameworks will remain frameworks if we don’t make the necessary adjustments. It’s time to address the huge disconnect between what’s written and what resources are available for people with disabilities.”
Dr Stellah Bosire, Founding Executive Director of The Africa Center for Health Systems and Gender Justice, said: “Primary health care is with the people who have experience day-to-day living. It’s where our investment should go.”
About the Commonwealth Foundation
We’re the Commonwealth’s agency for civil society and the issues that matter to 2.7 billion Commonwealth citizens. We strengthen people’s participation in all aspects of public dialogue to promote equal, just and inclusive societies across the Commonwealth’s 56 Member States.
About the Commonwealth People’s Forum
The People’s Forum brings together diverse perspectives to tackle the issues that matter most to the 2.7 billion people in the Commonwealth. Held every two years in the run up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, the forum is the only gathering of its kind for civil society to exchange ideas on how we transform the systems and attitudes that marginalise so many. The outcomes from the People’s Forum will be shared at a special meeting between Commonwealth Foreign Ministers that takes place later this week at CHOGM in Samoa.
About the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)
CHOGM is the ultimate decision-making summit of Commonwealth leaders from around the world. Outside of the United Nations, it is the largest international forum bringing together countries from differing points on the development spectrum — including some of the world’s richest nations to many of its poorest. The summit is an opportunity to strengthen the sense of the Commonwealth as a powerful force for global solidarity on issues needing collective action.
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