We are very excited to share that we have launched the People’s Health Watch (PHW).
We believe that the current neoliberal, economic system, founded on colonialism, racism, patriarchy, violence must be dismantled. It puts profit over the health of people and the planet, and has created the multiple intersecting crises – Covid-19, systemic racism, climate breakdown to name a few – we face today.
The People’s Health Watch seeks to be an emerging space for people, organisations, movements to collectively share their ideas, actions, ways of thinking that are resisting current systems of oppression and imagining what visions of health justice look like in practice. Health is shaped by the political, economic, social, environmental determinant of health, which are shaped by structures of power. Understanding health in this way demands that we tackle the root causes of health inequities and to organise upstream, to dismantle systems of oppression and imagine visions of health justice. We view a ‘watch’ as being witness to what is happening in the world. We aim for this process to enable collaboration, allowing us to take our first steps towards a vision of a fairer world. The People’s Health Watch at its heart is about co-creation and participatory dreaming. We would love for you to be part of it.
Have a look at the website here to get involved or email peopleshealthwatch@gmail.com. The watch is supported by Medact, Health Poverty Action and the Politics of Health Group. We are grateful to Civic Square, who are supporting the PHW through the Dream Fund. We recognise that to contribute requires time, energy, resources and we would like as far as we can to remove any barriers that might prevent you from contributing. If there is anything at all that we can do to support, please let us know (contactpeopleshealthwatch@gmail.com). We invite contributions in any form which are relevant to the 4 key areas: Context, Resist, Imagine, Connect
When we say any form, we really mean any form – from written pieces to videography, poetry, dance or an event – if it’s relevant to 1 or more of the 4 domains then we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch at peopleshealthwatch@gmail.com if you have any questions at all! |
About PHM UK
PHM-UK has existed formally since 2012 after some of our members organised a parallel People’s Health Assembly. Since then, we’ve arranged two further UK People’s Health Assemblies in 2014 and 2016, seen a groundswell of advocacy and participatory health research in our Scottish circle, supported various hearings across the UK providing a platform to citizens to testify to denial of their health rights and spoken out on a range of health & human rights issues.