Africa & Arab countries

The 21st session of the Health Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was held on 26-27 June 2017 at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris. Baba Aye, the PSI Health and Social Services Officer and Cyrille Duch, International Secretary of the French CFDT Health affiliate of PSI represented the trade union movement at the meeting, on the platform of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC).

Lena Vennberg from Vårdförbundet, Sweden was the first person from a PSI affiliate to participate in the annual WHA Watch organised for young health professionals, academics and activists by the People’s Health Movement held in May in Geneva. In an increasingly globalised world, this is an invaluable dimension of capacity-building for young health workers. It is also part of the PSI strategy of building closer collaboration with the civil society movement.

Dr Tedros Adhanom assumed office on 1 July 2017 as the 9th Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) since its inception in 1948. He has given his word that this marks a new era for the organization in its pivotal role of coordinating and directing international health policy. And the top priority of this era will be to ensure that all roads lead to universal health coverage.

This year, the day is dedicated to celebrating young people’s contributions to conflict prevention and transformation as well as inclusion, social justice, and sustainable peace. The current generation of youth is the largest in history and young people often comprise the majority in countries marked by armed conflict or unrest.

PSI along with Corporate Accountability International and other partners is circulating a letter in support of the Our Water Our Right coalition in Lagos - to show global support for their opposition to a NEW and IMMINENT privatization threat. PSI has been fighting water privatization in Lagos for several years.

Over 170 unions and civil society organisations from around the world have released a statement calling on investors to cease support for Bridge International Academies, a company running over 500 commercial private schools in the Global South with the support of international donors and investors.