Protecting Civic Participation to Advance Public Health
Participation in civil society is vital to safeguarding public health. As a leadership development organization founded on the belief that health is a human right, we at Global Health Corps (GHC) recognize the right to health and the right to participating in civic life as fundamentally interdependent.
In the United States, the impending Election Day is an event both ripe with promise and fraught with threats to human rights and health, especially for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and other marginalized people living in the U.S. Reports from across the U.S. show record weapons purchases, police forces preparing for disruptions, and rising concerns about the threat of white nationalist violence during and after the 2020 election.
Beyond the U.S., already contested presidential elections are underway or scheduled to be held in 10 African nations, including Global Health Corps’ operating countries of Uganda and Zambia, over the next five months. In numerous (though certainly not all) African elections in recent years, violence and rights infringements have negatively impacted citizens’ health and wellbeing.
Leaders at all levels and sectors must make every effort to protect voters’ health, safety, and right to civic participation throughout this election season. Those entrusted to lead governments have a particular responsibility to protect civic participation in order to build and maintain a high level of public confidence, a key factor in protecting and advancing public health. The public’s ability to trust and participate in government also tends to correlate with a higher rate of trust in scientists and health professionals, which positively impacts public health.
At the same time, protecting voting rights and building trust in public institutions are just two tools in a vast toolbox to eradicate health inequities and the intersecting systems of oppression that perpetuate them: white supremacy, patriarchy, neocolonialism, and others. Indeed, these very systems of oppression disenfranchise or otherwise frustrate civic participation for many in the U.S. and worldwide.
As an organization and institution operating within global health, a sector rooted in harmful colonial dynamics that persist today, we vow to keep doing our part to build a more equitable and healthy world. Our global community of 1000+ leaders is diverse in perspective and skillset but united in a commitment to transform systems so that they deliver for all. Regardless of what sector or spheres of influence we inhabit, a brighter future depends on us all joining them in accelerating progress.
Global Health Corps (GHC) is a nonpartisan 501(c)3 organization committed to building a generation of health equity leaders to transform health systems. While GHC has infrequently weighed in on major current events in our history, 2020 has been an inflection point in many ways. The year’s cross-cutting health, political, and socioeconomic crises have underscored the urgency of our work while also raising the stakes for failing to acknowledge the deep intersections between long-standing inequities around the world.
