Public Services International The global union federation of workers in public services

There is more than enough wealth in the world for everyone to have quality public healthcare.

It has been more than 70 years since the World Health Organization declared “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being.” Over 150 countries now include the right to health in their constitutions.

Yet today, health outcomes are dependent largely on socio-economic class.

Governments are massively under-investing. The myth that we cannot afford more health funding has driven cuts, the introduction of user fees and other forms of marketization which widen health inequities. The concept of 'access' to health services is replacing the push for universal provision. Public hospitals are understaffed, and many of the frontline health workers work long hours and are severely underpaid.

Corporate expansion in the health sector is putting the interests of profit-making ahead of people, undermining the commitment to health for all. Public-Private-Partnerships and privatised services bleed money into corporate coffers. Large health multinationals lobby governments while Big-Pharma manipulates trade and intellectual property rules to protect their monopoly profits.

More than 150 million people are thrown below the poverty line annually due to out of pocket health expenses

Private healthcare is neither cheaper nor more efficient than public provision.

Budgetary cuts and the pursuit of profits leads to a reduced number of health and social workers, and exclusionary user-fee models. Without stronger public engagement, the SDG target 3.8 for universal health coverage will not be achieved.

Some of the myths which drive the pro-profit approach claim the private sector increases efficiency. Yet evidence consistently shows that, in the health sector, administrative costs and inefficiencies rise as a tangled web of insurers, health providers and pharmaceutical companies attempt to extract profits from the system.

Many of the corporations engaged are among the worst violators of trade union and labour rights. They do everything possible to frustrate the right of health workers to organise and collective bargaining.

Private health corporations generate over $5 trillion USD in annual revenue, with many siphoning profits into offshore tax-havens.

Health and social workers are the backbone of care delivery. Yet the ILO recently projected a global shortfall of over 18 million health workers by 2030. We need our governments to urgently increase public employment in the health sector and ensure quality working conditions to attract more young people to these professions. In particular, we need more public health funding for developing countries to ensure that well-trained medical professionals are incentivized to stay and improve their health systems.

Without resilient health systems, the effects of disasters and epidemics are exacerbated, leading to further deaths and devastation. Our ability to respond to crises such as the Ebola outbreak is compromised, particularly in fragile health systems. Furthermore, delivering health care in war zones place significant risks on the lives of frontline responders. In the first half of 2018 alone, 271 health workers were killed. The heroic efforts of health workers saving lives during wars and disasters needs to be recognized and valued.

Public Services International is the key player at the global level, fighting for the rights of health workers and for public healthcare for all.

Workers must lead the campaign for the right to health at the grassroots and ensure improvement in employment and working conditions of health and social workers.

PSI works with national unions to build movements bringing together communities, patients forums and civil society organisations together to demand the realisation of the right to health.

PSI represents over 14 million health workers in 700 health and social sector unions across the world.

PSI pushes international institutions to promote concrete steps that guarantee the social protection of every human being by providing quality universal public health care and addressing the social, economic and cultural determinants of health.

We are convinced that universal health care is not a dream.

We know there is more than enough wealth in the world to achieve it.

We will struggle together to create the political will to win health for all.

During the dictatorship of Hissene Habre in Chad, Younous fought for trade union rights for hospital workers. He was persecuted, dismissed from his role, imprisoned and tortured. Since the fall of the regime, Younous has helped send Habre to prison, and keeps up the struggle for trade union rights and healthcare for all in Chad