7 April: World Health Day

April 7 is World Health Day. For the member organizations of the International Trade Union Network of Solidarity and Struggles, this is a day that calls for:

● public/solidarity funding for health care to ensure quality care and good working conditions for health professionals ;

● the protection of the population and the personnel of the commercial excesses in Health;

● the guarantee of financial, geographical, temporal and cultural accessibility to health care;

● health democracy by involving beneficiaries and health personnel;

● proactive action on the determinants of health, whether social, environmental, gender, etc.;

● the implementation of a drug policy serving the population of Europe and the South;

● the fight against the shortage of health personnel by protecting the weakest countries against the flight of professionals.

Workers in the health sector are faced with a very difficult situation: very harsh working conditions, understaffing, poor and inadequate infrastructures, lack of equipment, etc. The public suffers the consequences of these conditions. The public is suffering from the deterioration of public health systems, with hospital closures, cuts in services, medical deserts and rising health care costs.

At the same time, the shareholders of the multinationals in the sector are getting richer. As always, at the expense of workers and the most disadvantaged sections of the population.

The European member organisations of the International Trade Union Solidarity and Struggle Network, meeting in Milan from 2 to 4 February 2024, affirm the right to health for all, and support the struggles of workers in this sector that are taking place in many countries. They support the initiatives taken on 7 April in many countries, and in particular the demonstration that will take place in Brussels.

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