Inclusive Healthcare
Inclusive starts with an ‘I’
A circumference covered by and for an eye
Arm picking only for me and for the rest, none.
Understanding it only for an I
Makes chances of individualism high.
For inclusive and individual start with an I;
Within this ‘I’, Inclusiveness may not abide.
Let the living and the nonliving
The bothered and unbothered say,
“Inclusive means we”. None can deny.
Health services, good or poor to make us cry,
Are OURS: not his, theirs, or yours alone.
Not only for those in trousers and pants
but also those in dresses and bras or nothing at all.
Not only for those with deep hard voices
but also for those with soft feminine vocals.
Not only those with big within bellies
but also for those with small within tummies.
Pour dear soil and seal societal monster schisms;
Cover up and bury alive the open-mouthed chasms.
Let Inclusive health care enjoy that orgasm,
Where gender, region, age are the organisms,
And drug distribution hates favoritism.
Inclusive is healthcare for the poor and rich,
An arm long enough for everyone’s life,
Gives equal care around, back and forth,
Speaks with and for both women and men
In a system that heals both young and old
And soothes the pains of both the urban and rural.
If Mr. and Mrs. Health Equity are glad
With a banquet of goodies in abundance,
We shall smile our way to the drug store.
If Mr. and Mrs. Health Equity are sad,
Let all of us have the fair ride
By sharing equally the little that we will have.
Inclusive means WE in all dialects,
In solvent and insolvent regimes,
Transitional and developing economies,
Across the graphic of democracies,
And along the terrace of autocracies.
Yes, it continues to mean WE
In countries that are self-determined:
Those with colonial inheritances
And those without.
I have sung on the mountain top,
From the valleys, lakeshores, and delta sails that,
It is till this light of wealth shines rays
With a vitamin for both young and old;
Till this ocean of plenty flows of waters
With a carriage for rural and urban alike.
I sang, it is till this stock of drugs is distributed
To locations for both women and men.
I chanted, it is till this morning dew of vaccines rests
On the blind, deaf, dumb, and the rest alike,
That inclusive health care will begin with ‘WE’ not ‘I’.
Kansiime Onesmus is a 2020–2021 Global Health Corps fellow and Knowledge Management officer at The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in Uganda.
Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.
